BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN 

AND   THE 

REPUBLICAN  PARTY 

IN    TWO    VOLUMES 
VOLUME    I 


BOOKS  BY  WILLIAM   DANA   ORCUTT 


THE  MOTH 
THE    SPELL 
THE  LEVER 
THE  BACHELORS 

ROBERT  CAVELIER 
GOOD  OLD  DORCHESTER 
THE  PRINCESS  KALLISTO 
THE  FLOWER  OF  DESTINY 
THE  WRITER'S  DESK  BOOK 
THE  AUTHOR'S  DESK  BOOK 

THE  MADONNA  OF  SACRIFICE 
BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN  AND  THE 
REPUBLICAN  PARTY.      2 


BURROWS  OF  IV 

AND  THE 

REPUBLICAN   PARTY 

A  BIOGRAPHY  AND  A  HlSTOiU 


BY 

WILLIAM   DANA  ORCUTT 

SENATOR     JULIUS     C.     BURROWS 

1911 
VOf 


LONGMANS,    GREEN    AND    CO. 

FOURTH  AVENUE  &  3ora  STREET,  NEW  \OHK 
89   PATERNOSTER  ROW,   LONDON 

BOMBAY,    CALCUTTA,   AND   MAD9RAK 


BURROWS  OF  MIGiilGAN 

AND  THE 

REPUBLICAN   PARTY 

A  BIOGRAPHY  AND  A  HISTORY 

BY 

WILLIAM  DANA  ORCUTT 


VOLUME   I 


LONGMANS,    GREEN    AND    GO. 

FOURTH  AVENUE  &  SOTH  STREET,  NEW  YORK 
3g   PATERNOSTER   ROW,   LONDON 

BOMBAY,    CALCUTTA,   AND   MADRAS 
1917 


COPYRIGHT,     1917 
BY    LONGMANS,    GREEN     &    CO. 


THE-   PLIMPTON -PKESS 
NOBWOOD-  MASS  •   U-S-A 


BURROWS    McNEIR 

AND 

THOMAS    SHEPHERD    McNEIR 

THESE     EPISODES     IN     PATRIOTISM 

OF    THEIR     DISTINGUISHED     GRANDFATHER 

ARE     DEDICATED 


PREFACE 

THE  personality  of  many  men  is  best  found  in 
their  private  correspondence.  The  real  nature 
of  an  individual  is  disclosed  not  by  his  vocation,  which 
may  be  the  result  of  accident  or  environment,  but 
by  the  use  he  makes  of  his  leisure  hours.  These  are 
his  own,  and  what  he  does  within  this  limitation  may 
fairly  be  taken  as  an  expression  of  his  personal  choice. 
To  keep  a  diary  is  an  evidence  of  introspection. 

Senator  Burrows  was  not  a  voluminous  corre 
spondent,  preferring  the  more  direct  appeal  of  per 
sonal  intercourse.  During  his  long  life  of  National 
service  he  realized  that  each  speech  he  made,  each 
measure  upon  which  he  voted,  was  a  record  of  char 
acter  which  no  man  could  escape;  and  he  preferred  to 
be  judged  by  his  public  utterances  and  acts.  He  had 
no  avocation,  for  his  life  was  entirely  absorbed  by  the 
direct  and  indirect  duties  incidental  to  the  important 
work  which  his  Party  intrusted  to  him.  He  was  not 
introspective,  and  his  diary  is  written  upon  the  pages 
of  the  Congressional  Record  and  in  the  stenographers' 
reports  of  his  public  speeches. 

vii 


viii  PREFACE 

This  habit  of  life,  while  clearly  consistent  with  the 
man,  has  both  lightened  and  complicated  the  labors 
of  his  biographer.  There  have  been  fewer  inconsis 
tencies  to  reconcile,  there  has  been  less  secret  history 
to  disclose.  Senator  Burrows  lived  in  the  open, 
fought  his  battles  in  public,  and  left  to  his  biographer 
the  pleasure  of  recording  and  analyzing  rather  than 
the  task  of  explaining.  This  record  covers  so  long 
a  period  and  so  many  subjects  vital  to  the  evolu 
tionary  progress  of  the  country,  that  to  condense  it 
even  within  the  space  of  two  volumes  such  as  these 
has  necessitated  the  utmost  care  in  order  to  preserve 
the  proportions  without  unduly  affecting  the  true 
perspective. 

From  those  who  knew  Senator  Burrows  in  action 
and  who  worked  with  him,  have  come  many  side 
lights  which  have  been  of  infinite  value  to  the 
biographer  in  drawing  his  pen  picture  of  the  man,  and 
he  acknowledges  gratefully  his  obligations  to  ex-Vice- 
President  Charles  W.  Fairbanks,  Senator  Henry 
Cabot  Lodge,  ex-Speaker  Joseph  G.  Cannon,  and  ex- 
Governor  John  T.  Rich  of  Michigan;  also  to  Dr. 
Davis  R.  Dewey,  of  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of 
Technology,  for  his  critical  reading  in  manuscript  of 
the  chapters  on  Protection  and  Currency.  Henry  M. 
Rose,  Esquire,  now  assistant  secretary  of  the  United 
States  Senate,  and  for  many  years  Senator  Burrows' 


PREFACE  ix 

confidential  secretary,  has  given  generously  of  his 
time  and  knowledge.  Edward  C.  Goodwin,  Esquire, 
librarian  of  the  United  States  Senate,  and  Mrs.  Jennie 
P.  Andrews,  of  the  War  Department,  have  lessened 
the  research  labors. 

The  writing  of  these  volumes  has  not  been  a  per 
functory  literary  task.  The  biographer  has  com 
pleted  his  work  with  an  increased  knowledge  of  the 
influences  surrounding  those  who  conscientiously 
labor  for  the  advancement  of  their  country's  interests, 
and  with  a  profound  admiration  for  those  few  who 
have  proved  themselves  strong  enough  to  hold  closely 
to  their  plotted  course.  He  has  learned  also  how 
great  a  debt  the  present  owes  to  those  of  the  past  gen 
eration  who  built  so  firmly  that  basis  upon  which  we 
must  rest  today  if  we  are  to  endure  as  a  Nation  and 
stand  as  a  World  power. 

WILLIAM  DANA  ORCUTT 

BOSTON,  October,  1917 


CONTENTS  TO  VOLUME  I 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  I 

Early  Days.  1887-1862 3 

CHAPTER  II 

The  Soldier  Husband.  1862-1868 87 

CHAPTER  III 

The  Soldier  Husband.  1868-1864 77 

CHAPTER  IV 

Personal  Reconstruction.  1864-1872 116 

CHAPTER  V 

In  Congress  and  Out.  1878-1878 i45 

CHAPTER  VI 

Back  in  Congress.  1879-1886 171 

CHAPTER  VII 

Later  Years  in  the  Lower  House.  1886-1890. . . .  208 
CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Protectionist.  1886-1888 286 

CHAPTER  IX 

The  McKinley  Bill.  1890 264 

CHAPTER  X 

Reciprocity.  1889-1902 279 

CHAPTER  XI 

The  Wilson  Bill.  1894 807 

CHAPTER  XII 

Currency.     1874-1896 822 


ILLUSTRATIONS  TO  VOLUME  I 

SENATOR  JULIUS  C.  BURROWS,  1911 Frontispiece 

MRS.  MARIA  B.  SMITH  BURROWS Facing  page  8 

WILLIAM   BURROWS 10 

BOYHOOD  HOME  OF  SENATOR  BURROWS 12 

MRS.  JENNIE  HIBBARD  BURROWS,  1860 22 

JULIUS  C.  BURROWS,  i855 26 

JULIUS  C.  BURROWS,  i858 26 

CAPTAIN  BURROWS,  1862 38 

REPRESENTATIVE   BURROWS,  1872 i44 

THE  NAST  CARTOON  ON  BURROWS'  SECURITY  OF  ELEC 
TIONS  SPEECH,    1876 i58 

THE  GILLAM  CARTOON  ON  CLEVELAND'S  FREE  TRADE 

MESSAGE,  1887 246 

CARTOON  —  "  Michigan's  St.  George  " 3o4 

CARTOON  —  "A  Memorable  Knock-out " 334 

CARTOON  —  "  Some  Hope  for  Silver1' T  35o 


BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN 

AND  THE 

REPUBLICAN  PARTY 


BURROWS   OF   MICHIGAN 

.VXD  THE 

REPUBLICAN  PARTY 

CHAPTER  I 
EARLY  DAYS.      1837-1862 

THE  life  history  of  Julius  Caesar  Burrows  is  so 
closely  interwoven  with  that  of  the  Republican 
Party  that  the  one  can  never  be  told  without  era- 
bracing  the  chief  events  of  the  other.  From  its 
earliest  days  down  to  1912  he  played  some  part,  small 
or  great,  in  nearly  every  important  movement  for 
which  the  Party  stands  accredited,  and  for  thirty  years 
he  was  one  of  its  chief  spokesmen  in  expounding  its 
principles  on  the  stump  or  in  Congress.  While  never 
a  leader  in  the  same  sense  as  was  Elaine,  Garfield, 
Reed,  or  McKinley.  he  ranked  with  these  National 
characters  in  ability  and  statesmanship,  and  beyond 
them  in  his  constructive  usefulness  to  his  Party. 

"Under  the  oaks  of  Jackson,"  said  John  Hay,  in 
his  famous  Golden  Anniversary  oration,  "the  6th  of 
July,  1854,  a  Party  was  brought  into  being  and 
baptized  which  ever  since  has  answered  the  purpose 

3 


4  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1837 

of  its  existence  with  fewer  follies  and  failures  and 
more  magnificent  achievements  than  ordinarily  fall 
to  the  lot  of  any  institution  of  mortal  origin." 

Burrows  was  in  his  eighteenth  year  when  this 
historic  event  occurred, — a  student  in  the  Grand 
River  Institute  at  Austinburg,  Ashtabula  County, 
Ohio.  He  had  been  born  into  an  environment  of 
outspoken  devotion  to  the  cause  of  freedom;  he  had 
been  brought  up  on  the  diet  of  abolition,  asking  no 
greater  entertainment  than  to  listen  to  his  father's 
impassioned  discussions  of  the  great  political  ques 
tions  of  the  day;  he  had  found  ample  opportunity  to 
watch  the  great  contests  of  Parties  and  to  hear  the 
debates  between  their  leaders, — -and  the  newly 
formed  Republican  Party  included  him  among  those 
zealous  young  men  of  the  North  who  joined  it  heart 
and  soul,  pledging  their  very  lives  to  the  prevention 
of  further  encroachment  of  the  principle  of  slavery. 
The  promulgation  of  the  new  political  creed  and  the 
birth  of  the  new  political  organization  seemed  to 
young  Burrows  nothing  less  than  a  summons  to  a 
crusade  of  righteousness,  into  which  he  threw  him 
self  with  the  fiery  impetuosity  of  youth,  and  with  an 
intensity  of  unwavering  devotion  which  abided  with 
him  throughout  his  long  political  career.  "It  was 
at  that  happy  stage  in  the  development  of  an  insti 
tution,"  says  Thayer,  when  "its  ideals,  unsullied  yet 


1862]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY          5 

by  selfish  desires,  justified  the  enthusiasm  of  its  sup 
porters.  Its  principles  had  the  compulsion  of  re 
ligion;  and  rightly  so,  because  they  aimed  at  carrying 
out  in  the  sphere  of  public  life  the  behests  of  private 


conscience."  1 


We  may  not  all  agree  with  the  theory  that  the 
Republican  Party  "has  answered  the  purpose  of  its 
existence  with  fewer  follies  and  failures  and  more 
magnificent  achievements  than  ordinarily  fall  to  the 
lot  of  any  institution  of  mortal  origin,"  but  no  state 
ment  could  better  express  the  conviction  which  pos 
sessed  Burrows  from  his  earliest  association  with  it. 
He  was  conscious  of  its  weaknesses;  but  these  he 
would  have  explained  away  as  due  to  individual  short 
comings  rather  than  to  Party  error.  To  him  the 
Republican  Party  as  an  institution  could  do  no  wrong. 
When  influential  members  cast  discredit  upon  it  he 
regarded  them  as  traitors  to  their  country;  for  was 
it  not  the  Republican  Party  which  had  preserved  the 
Union,  and  which  had  repaired  the  one  weak  link  in 
the  chain  forged  by  the  founders  of  the  Republic  by 
abolishing  the  traffic  in  human  flesh? 

We  ourselves  are  too  far  removed  from  the  day 
when  Burrows'  political  convictions  were  irrevocably 
cast  to  appreciate  how  deeply  the  iron  entered  into 
the  souls  of  men  at  that  period.  This  generation 

i  Thayer:  "The  Life  of  John  Hay,"  volume  I,  page  S2. 


6  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1837 

has  fortunately  never  known  and  the  past  generation 
has  been  glad  to  forget  the  condition  of  actual  hatred 
which  then  existed  between  the  Republicans  and 
the  Southern  Democrats  and  their  Northern  sympa 
thizers.  Parties  in  those  days  meant  something 
more  than  a  difference  in  opinion  regarding  Protec 
tion  and  Free  Trade.  The  Republicans,  direct  suc 
cessors  of  the  old  Whig  Party,  looked  upon  them 
selves  as  representatives  of  righteousness,  and  con 
sidered  their  opponents  as  agents  of  the  Devil  in  their 
disloyalty  to  the  Union,  in  their  tenacious  insistence 
that  the  institution  of  slavery  was  justifiable,  and  in 
their  determination  to  disrupt  the  Republic  if  neces 
sary  to  accomplish  their  purposes.  The  Democrats, 
on  the  other  hand,  refused  to  recognize  the  religious 
aspect  of  the  cause  espoused  by  the  Republicans,  and 
could  see  in  their  efforts  to  restrain  and  later  to  de 
stroy  an  established  institution  nothing  but  uncon 
stitutional  aggression,  and  an  affront  to  be  resented 
and  rebuked. 

The  birth  of  the  Republican  Party  in  1854  crys 
tallized  the  conflict  between  conscientiously  formed 
but  diametrically  opposed  judgments  which  had 
for  years  seethed  within  the  breasts  of  thinking  men, 
unsatisfied  by  the  long  era  of  compromise,  and  which 
when  later  brought  to  the  surface  could  be  settled 
only  by  the  clash  of  arms.  "The  Republican  Party," 


1862]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY          7 

Hay  said  in  the  oration  already  quoted,  "sprang  di 
rectly  from  an  aroused  and  indignant  National  con 
science.  Questions  of  finance,  of  political  economy, 
of  orderly  administration,  passed  out  of  sight  for  the 
moment,  to  be  taken  up  and  dealt  with  later  on;  but 
in  1854  the  question  that  brought  the  thinking  men 
together  was  whether  there  should  be  a  limit  to  the 
aggressions  of  slavery,  and  in  1861  that  solemn: 
inquiry  turned  to  one  still  more  portentous, — should 
the  Nation  live  or  die?  The  humblest  old  Repub 
lican  in  America  has  the  right  to  be  proud  that  in  the 
days  of  his  youth,  in  the  presence  of  these  momentous 
questions,  he  judged  right,  and  if  he  is  sleeping  in  his 
honored  grave  his  children  may  justly  be  glad  of  his 
decision." 

No  doubt  ever  existed  in  Burrows'  mind  that  his 
decision  was  rightly  made.  The  disappointment  he 
experienced  in  the  fact  that  he  was  too  young  to  vote 
for  Fremont,  the  first  Presidential  candidate  of  the 
new  Party,  found  expression  in  his  active  participa 
tion  in  the  campaign,  during  which  he  made  his 
earliest  political  speeches;  and  the  defeat  of  his 
favorite  only  emphasized  in  his  mind  the  necessity  for 
further  and  greater  effort  to  bring  success  to  the  ideals 
for  which  his  Party  stood.  Four  years  later  the  Re 
publicans  nominated  Lincoln  as  their  standard- 
bearer.  The  ardor  with  which  the  young  men  of  the 


8  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1837 

North  threw  themselves  into  this  campaign  has  never 
been  equaled,  and  contributed  much  to  the  successful 
outcome  of  the  election.  No  one  of  these  enthusiasts 
was  more  zealous  than  the  youthful  Burrows,  who 
delivered  impassioned  speeches  on  the  stump,  and 
cast  for  Lincoln  his  earliest  Presidential  ballot.  The 
election  of  the  Republican  candidate  brought  to  Bur 
rows  the  keenest  satisfaction  of  his  life ;  for  his  ideals 
had  been  realized,  and  that  was  the  justification  of  his 
consecration.  Within  two  years  the  young  enthusi 
ast  found  further  opportunity  to  give  tangible  evi 
dence  of  his  loyalty  and  devotion,  for  he  was  among 
the  first  to  offer  himself  in  the  defense  of  his  country. 
It  is  difficult  for  us  who  have  learned  the  history  of 
our  Nation  in  the  midst  of  comfort  and  safety  to 
appreciate  how  deep-rooted  become  those  lessons 
which  are  learned  first-hand  in  the  smoke  of  political 
controversy,  or  on  the  bloody  battlefields  of  a  civil 
war.  It  is  easy  for  us,  looking  backwards,  to  criticise 
a  Party  which  has  from  time  to  time  been  torn  by 
internal  corruption,  and  has  indisputably  erred  in 
judgment:  it  is  easy  for  us  to  question  the  sincerity 
of  any  man  who  stands  by  his  Party  through  thick 
and  thin  for  sixty  years ;  but  when  one  follows  Bur 
rows  through  these  years  of  Party  loyalty  and  dis 
covers  his  unswerving  integrity  to  principle,  his  con 
stant  fight  against  the  individual  betrayal  of  the  high 


MARIA     B.     SMITH    BURROWS 

Mother  of  Senator  Burrows 


1862]     AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY         9 

ideals  for  which  his  Party  stood  at  birth, — all  doubt 
of  sincerity  vanishes,  and  one  is  forced  to  admiration 
not  unmixed  with  wonder  that  so  consistent  and  so 
straight  a  path  as  his  could  be  preserved. 

Julius  Caesar  was  the  seventh  son  of  William  Bur 
rows,  a  native  of  Connecticut,  and  Maria  B.  Smith, 
who  came  from  Massachusetts.  They  moved  to  a 
farm  at  Busti,  Chautauqua  County,  New  York,  soon 
after  their  marriage,  and  later  to  Grahamville,  North 
East  Township,  Erie  County,  Pennsylvania,  where 
the  namesake  of  the  famous  Roman  Emperor  was 
born  on  January  9,  1837.  His  name  was  always  a 
source  of  mortification  to  him,  but  it  was  an  expres 
sion  of  his  mother's  fervid  imagination, — an  attribute 
which  he  inherited  from  her  to  a  marked  degree. 
The  names  of  his  six  brothers  and  his  one  sister  in 
cluded  Hannibal  Hamilton,  Jerome  Bonaparte,  Chris 
topher  Columbus,  Sylvester  Solomon,  Adrian  Addi- 
son,  William  Riley,  and  Almeda.  Once,  a  good 
many  years  later,  some  one  asked  Senator  Burrows 
if  his  father  was  a  student  of  history. 

"No,"  he  answered;  "but  my  mother  was.  I  have 
detested  'highfaluting'  names  and  titles  all  my  life. 
I  have  invariably  parted  my  hair  on  the  side,  and  have 
been  plain  Mr.  Burrows  ever  since  coming  to  the 
Senate.  It  was  a  mistake  to  tag  my  brothers  and  me 
the  way  they  did." 


10  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1837 

William  Burrows,  of  Scotch-English  descent,  was  a 
sturdy  specimen  of  New  England  manhood,  a  pro 
nounced  Free-Soil  Whig  in  politics  and  a  "hard- 
shelled"  Baptist  in  religion;  but  we  may  judge  which 
conviction  stood  closer  to  his  conscience  when  we 
learn  that  when  his  Church  attempted  to  criticize  his 
outspoken  opposition  to  slavery,  he  promptly  trans 
ferred  his  spiritual  allegiance  to  another  denomina 
tion.  As  the  boys  grew  up,  the  anti-slavery  question 
was  the  leading  topic  discussed  in  their  hearing.  At 
home,  it  was  as  regularly  a  part  of  the  daily  routine 
as  the  morning  and  evening  prayers, — each  one  of 
the  seven  sons  taking  his  turn  at  reading  aloud  from 
the  latest  New  York  Tribune,  which  was  the  breath 
craved  by  Father  Burrows'  nostrils.  In  place  of  the 
theater  or  the  photoplay  of  today,  the  boys  found 
their  chief  diversion  in  the  debating  societies,  but  as 
tolerated  listeners  only,  and  many  a  thrill  was  expe 
rienced  from  the  heat  of  the  debates  between  their 
excited  fathers  and  elder  brothers. 

Father  Burrows  did  not  believe  in  higher  educa 
tion,  but  he  neglected  no  opportunity  for  his  sons  to 
hear  every  great  political  speaker  who  came  within 
driving  distance  of  his  home  town,  and  for  them  to 
walk  ten  miles  and  back  was  no  unusual  occurrence. 
One  gala  day  in  the  Burrows  household  was  when 
Fred  Douglass,  the  colored  orator,  arrived  at  Graham- 


WILLIAM     BURROWS 

Father  of  Senator  Barrows 


1862]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        11 

ville  in  a  buggy  drawn  by  two  horses,  and  became  the 
honored  guest  of  the  family.  Julius  was  broken 
hearted  when  his  father  declared  that  he  was  too 
young  to  be  taken  to  the  lecture  which  Douglass 
delivered,  but  he  drank  in  with  wide-open  eyes  and 
bated  breath  the  tales  of  slave  life  which  the  colored 
champion  of  his  race  related  within  his  hearing.  On 
the  morning  after  the  lecture,  one  of  Douglas's 
horses  broke  loose,  and  with  rare  zeal  the  boy  entered 
into  the  chase  and  capture,  feeling  that  at  last  oppor 
tunity  had  been  given  him  to  make  expression  of  the 
sympathy  which  until  then  he  had  kept  silently  within 
himself.  By  aiding  Douglass,  he  felt  that  he  had 
taken  a  definite  step  toward  freeing  the  slaves,  and 
he  enjoyed  to  the  full  the  consciousness  of  his  early 
consecration. 

Senator  Burrows  kept  no  diaries,  but  in  twenty 
voluminous  scrap-books  he  pasted  clippings,  letters, 
and  memoranda  from  which  the  biographer  has  freely 
drawn.  These  memorabilia  go  back  to  i860,  and 
continue  without  a  break  down  to  the  year  of  his 
death.  From  time  to  time  Burrows  refers  to  his  boy 
hood  life,  and  the  following  extracts,  taken  from 
interviews,  letters,  and  anecdotes,  when  pieced  to 
gether  afford  a  picture  of  the  period  which  is  of  value 
and  interest  beyond  their  personal  association: 

"I  was  born  in  a  log-cabin,"  Burrows  relates,  "on 


12  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1837 

the  side  of  a  hill  in  Erie  County,  Pennsylvania.  My 
father  built  a  new  house  when  I  was  a  child  which  I 
thought  to  be  remarkably  commodious  and  elegant. 
When  we  moved  into  it  with  our  belongings  it  seemed 
entirely  too  large  and  oppressively  lonely.  I  went 
back  to  look  at  the  old  house  several  years  ago,  keep 
ing  its  stately  proportions  in  mind  as  I  had  always 
remembered  them;  but  I  could  not  find  it.  I  saw  a 
weather-beaten  little  hut  of  one  and  a  half  stories, 
with  three  rooms  downstairs  and  an  unfinished  attic. 
I  was  distressed  and  amazed  to  learn  that  it  was  the 
imposing  palace  of  my  childhood. 

"I  think  that  my  very  earliest  ambition  was  to  be 
a  preacher.  When  not  more  than  five  years  old  I 
recall  distinctly  my  habit  of  getting  the  other  children 
assembled  on  Sundays,  or  times  when  the  old  folks 
were  gone  away,  fixing  up  a  kind  of  pulpit  of  chairs 
and  the  wood-box,  and  then  commanding  strict  atten 
tion  while  I  recited  some  verses  from  the  family  Bible 
which  I  knew  by  heart. 

"On  one  occasion  three  of  us  boys  thought  we 
would  run  away  from  home.  The  home-leaving  was 
the  bitterest  time  of  my  life.  We  went  about  a  mile, 
and  then  realized  we  had  no  place  to  sleep  and  no  food 
to  eat.  So  we  turned  back  and  slept  in  the  barn. 
When  we  came  in  to  breakfast  no  one  paid  any  atten 
tion  to  us, — there  were  so  many  of  us  that  we  had  not 


BOYHOOD    HOME    OF    SENATOR 
BURROWS 

Erie  County,  Pennsylvania 


1862]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY         13 

been  missed.  We  were  chagrinned  not  to  be  recog 
nized  as  the  heroes  we  felt  ourselves  to  be.  Finally 
Jerome,  hoping  to  attract  attention,  assumed  the 
attitude  of  the  prodigal  son,  and  said  impressively, 
'Well,  mother,  I  see  you  still  keep  the  old  dog.' 

"My  six  brothers  and  I  worked  on  the  farm,  and 
attended  the  district  school  in  Winter.  I  was  always 
exhilarated  and  hopeful  even  in  the  sugar-bush, 
where,  with  a  neck-yoke  and  two  buckets  over  my 
shoulders,  I  followed  my  father  and  gathered  maple 
sap  from  one  tree  to  another.  The  cold  wind 
whistled  through  the  grove,  and  the  mud,  softened  to 
an  icy  dough  by  the  warmth  of  the  water,  clung  in 
obstinate  chunks  to  my  cowhide  boots ;  but  I  was  full 
of  joy  notwithstanding.  At  night  I  would  sleep  a 
little,  and  then  get  up  to  stir  the  maple  sap  and  to 
rub  the  kettle  with  fat  pork  to  keep  it  from  boiling 
over. 

"The  favorite  pleasure  resort  of  all  the  people  in 
that  region  was  a  deep  abyss  which  was  called  the 
'gulf.'  A  very  narrow  path,  made  by  the  rains  of 
many  seasons  and  called  the  'hogsback/  ran  into  the 
chasm.  We  boys  used  to  play  on  the  path  at  the 
risk  of  our  limbs  and  lives,  and  to  the  distress  of  our 
parents.  An  eccentric  character  in  the  village  of 
North  East,  not  far  away,  announced  that  he  would 
repair  on  a  certain  day  to  the  'hogsback'  and  die  in 


14  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1837 

the  presence  of  all  those  who  cared  to  leave  their  work 
to  witness  the  unusual  event.  He  dug  a  grave  near 
by,  and  made  other  necessary  preparations  for  giving 
up  the  ghost.  The  man  spent  a  busy  and  cheerful 
day  on  the  'hogsback.'  Toward  evening,  however, 
he  withdrew,  saying  that  he  was  sorry  to  disappoint 
the  crowd,  but  manifestly  he  had  blundered  in  his 
arithmetic.  My  father  had  been  a  skeptic  on  the 
proposition  right  along,  and  wagered  with  my  brother 
Jerome,  who  was  optimist  enough  to  risk  his  only 
sheep  on  the  result. 

"The  performance  on  the  'hogsback'  was  one  of 
the  really  great  events  of  my  boyhood.  We  talked 
about  it  for  months,  dating  events  upon  it  the  same 
as  if  it  had  been  a  big  wind  or  a  killing  frost.  As  an 
entertainment  it  beat  the  raising  of  a  barn  or  a  house, 
although  on  such  an  occasion  there  was  much  noisy 
joy  throughout  the  day,  and  fist  fights  late  in  the 
afternoon. 

"In  the  course  of  time  my  father  sold  his  farm  and 
moved  to  Grahamville, — a  very  little  town  in  the 
same  county.  We  now  lived  in  a  house  which  con 
sisted  of  a  large  main  building,  and  two  decidedly 
gorgeous  wings.  My  father  had  a  tract  of  timber  in 
which  his  seven  sons  regaled  themselves  with  axes 
when  serious  work  was  slack.  He  also  had  an  inter 
est  in  a  tannery.  He  was  a  pushing  and  thrifty  man, 


1862]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        15 

feeling  his  own  need  of  an  education  and  wanting  his 
own  sons  to  go  to  school." 

In  1844,  during  the  Clay-Polk  campaign,  when 
Julius  was  seven  years  old,  a  mass  meeting  of  Whigs 
was  announced  to  be  held  at  Erie,  at  which  the  great 
Daniel  Webster  would  be  the  principal  speaker.  As 
in  the  "log  cabin  and  hard  cider"  campaign  of  1840, 
this  was  a  period  of  great  popular  excitement  and 
elaborate  political  demonstrations.  Like  many  other 
Whig  farmers,  Father  Burrows  harnessed  up  his 
great  hay-wagon,  with  planks  on  either  side  to  seat  his 
boys  and  his  neighbors,  and  the  little  Julius,  to  his 
intense  joy,  was  permitted  to  go.  In  the  center  of 
the  wagon  was  a  cross-piece  which  supported  a  pole, 
and  on  this  was  perched  a  live  raccoon.  The  wagon, 
decorated  with  flags  and  streamers  and  drawn  by  four 
horses,  started  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  for 
Erie,  thirty  miles  distant.  A  neighbor's  wagon  was 
drawn  by  forty  yoke  of  oxen.  "I  can  see  them  yet," 
Burrows  relates,  "switching  their  long  tails,  leaning 
away  from  their  yokes,  and  walking  pigeon-toed." 

As  the  great  procession  of  wagons  approached 
Erie  by  all  converging  roads  the  enthusiasm  grew  in 
intensity.  The  Burrows'  wagon  and  other  vehicles 
stopped  in  front  of  the  tavern,  where  Julius  joined  his 
elder  brother  "Rome"  in  singing  a  Whig  satirical 
song  of  the  day,  one  verse  of  which  was  as  follows: 


16  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1837 

"Oh,  Jimmy  Polk  is  a  man  of  doubt 9 
He  wires  in  and  he  wires  out; 
You  cannot  tell  when  on  his  track 
Whether  he  is  going  South  or  coming  back." 

The  proprietor  of  the  tavern,  an  irate  Democrat, 
rushed  out,  highly  indignant  over  what  he  accepted 
as  a  personal  affront,  and  threatened  to  shoot  the 
entire  Whig  crowd,  which  by  this  time  had  joined  the 
boys  in  singing  the  objectionable  verses.  The  size  of 
the  party,  however,  overawed  him,  and  he  retired 
ungracefully,  muttering  anathemas  while  the  crowd 
sang  the  louder. 

The  great  meeting  was  held  in  the  open  air  in  a 
fifty-acre  lot,  and  the  famous  Webster,  with  his 
cavernous  eyes  and  deep,  bass  voice,  electrified  the 
throng  with  his  eloquent  views  on  Tariff,  Currency, 
and  other  issues  of  the  day.  Such  gatherings,  and 
such  enthusiasm  and  personal  worship,  are  now 
memories  of  the  past,  and  can  never  be  repeated  in 
this  age  of  newspapers  and  publicity,  which  repeats  to 
the  world  the  eloquent  sentiments  of  the  orator  almost 
before  they  are  delivered. 

This  was  the  only  time  Burrows  ever  saw  Web 
ster,  yet,  young  as  he  was,  the  experience  made  a  last 
ing  impression  upon  him.  "All  I  can  remember," 
he  relates,  "is  that  he  was  a  very  swarthy  man  and 
that  he  made  a  speech."  The  early  ambition  to 


1862]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        17 

become  a  preacher  changed  at  this  point  to  an 
absolute  determination  to  make  himself  a  public 
speaker,  and  to  enter  public  life.  The  extemporary 
pulpit  of  chairs  and  wood-box  was  metamorphosed 
into  a  rostrum,  from  which  he  now  addressed  his 
youthful  audiences  upon  political  subjects  instead  of 
the  spiritual  themes  which  had  previously  been  his 
wont;  and  he  modeled  his  delivery  as  closely  upon 
that  of  Webster  as  a  seven-year-old  boy  could. 

So  the  child  developed  into  the  boy-man  at  an  age 
when  most  children  are  still  playing  with  their  toys, 
his  mind  centered  upon  the  big  things  of  life  rather 
than  upon  trivialities.  The  evolution  had  been 
wisely  guided  at  the  beginning  by  a  father  who  him 
self  took  life  seriously,  and  who  taught  his  children 
their  greatest  lesson  by  the  example  he  set  them  of 
devotion  to  a  cause  and  sincerity  of  purpose  in  living 
up  to  every  obligation  imposed  by  the  principles 
involved.  The  later  influences  under  which  Julius 
came  could  not  have  fitted  more  accurately  into 
Father  Burrows'  scheme  had  he  been  permitted  to 
control  them,  and  the  response  made  by  the  boy,  then 
later  by  the  man,  gave  evidence  of  his  natural  tend 
ency  toward  the  work  to  which  he  devoted  his  life. 

Of  the  other  sons,  two  also  responded  to  the  early 
influences  by  going  into  politics,  but  to  a  lesser  degree 
than  their  more  famous  brother.  Jerome  Bonaparte 


i8  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1837 

Burrows  became  a  distinguished  lawyer,  and  later  a 
judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  Ohio.  He  was  a  resi 
dent  of  Painesville,  Lake  County,  Ohio,  which  town 
ship  adjoins  Mentor,  where  was  the  home  of  James  A. 
Garfield,  and  between  these  two  men  there  existed 
the  most  intense  political  rivalry,  both  being  candi 
dates  for  Congress  from  the  famous  "Nineteenth  Dis 
trict."  Many  thought  Jerome  Burrows  had  the 
better  chance  of  election,  but  his  previous  persistent 
and  successful  efforts  to  secure  an  acquittal  of  a  client 
in  a  long-celebrated  case  cost  him  the  support  of  Ash- 
tabula  County,  and  Garfield  was  elected.  Had 
Jerome  Burrows  won  in  this  seemingly  local  contest, 
it  would  have  changed  the  history  of  the  United 
States,  as  Garfield  would  probably  have  been  un 
known  beyond  the  limits  of  his  own  State. 

Sylvester  Solomon  Burrows  became  a  practicing 
physician,  but  he  possessed  many  of  the  attributes 
which  make  a  statesman.  He  lived  in  Geneva,  Ash- 
tabula  County,  Ohio,  which  is  about  fifteen  miles  east 
of  Painesville.  For  some  years  he  served  his  con 
stituents  as  a  member  of  the  State  senate,  where  he 
made  a  reputation  as  a  debater,  and  demonstrated  a 
ready  understanding  of  parliamentary  law  and  usage. 
Dr.  Burrows  was  a  man  who  always  had  the  courage 
of  his  convictions,  and,  with  him,  as  with  Jerome, 
policy  was  a  matter  of  secondary  consideration. 


1862]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        19 

Although  an  ardent  Republican,  unlike  his 
brothers  Dr.  Burrows  embraced  the  doctrine  of  Free 
Silver.  When  the  Republican  Committee  of  Ohio 
summoned  Senator  Burrows  into  the  State  to  speak  in 
behalf  of  Bushnell  and  Hanna,  the  Senator  found  his 
brother  making  Free  Silver  speeches  of  the  most  rabid 
nature.  Whenever  Julius  made  a  "Sound  Money" 
speech,  his  brother  followed  the  next  day,  contesting 
every  point.  The  Saturday  night  before  election 
Senator  Burrows  addressed  a  monster  Republican 
meeting  in  Music  Hall,  Cleveland.  Dr.  Burrows 
announced  through  the  press  that  on  Monday  even 
ing,  in  the  same  place,  he  would  reply  to  his  brother. 
Music  Hall  was  packed,  and  the  Doctor's  audience 
thoroughly  enjoyed  the  good-natured  but  energetic 
attack  upon  the  Senator's  basic  principles.  But 
whatever  political  differences  might  exist,  there  was 
always  the  warmest  fraternal  feeling  between  all  the 
brothers;  for  the  Burrowses  were  clannish.  For 
many  years  there  was  an  annual  reunion  of  the 
brothers  at  Jerome's  home,  and  the  occasion  was 
always  one  of  rare  pleasure  for  those  friends  who  were 
fortunate  enough  to  be  included. 

In  1850  Father  Burrows  and  his  family  removed 
to  another  farm  near  Kingsville,  Ashtabula  County, 
Ohio, — but  let  us  listen  to  the  story  as  Burrows  him 
self  tells  it:  "We  left  Grahamville  and  bought  a 


20  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1837 

farm  in  the  famous  Nineteenth  District  of  Ohio,  which 
was  represented  in  Congress  by  Joshua  R.  Giddings, 
and,  at  a  later  date,  by  James  A.  Garfield,  and  which 
was  also  the  home  of  Senator  Benjamin  F.  Wade,  the 
furious  abolitionist.  Money  was  scarce,  markets 
were  few  and  far  apart,  farm  products  had  to  be 
traded  to  merchants  for  calico  and  other  goods.  I 
received  a  little  money  by  peeling  apples  and  drying 
them  in  the  sun.  I  milked  five  cows  twice  a  day,  and 
walked  three  miles  to  the  Academy  at  Kingsville.  In 
Winter  I  did  chores  at  a  man's  house  for  my  board, 
but  I  secured  a  room  at  the  Academy,  sweeping  the 
building  and  ringing  the  bell  for  my  tuition.  My 
mother  gave  me  a  bed  and  a  box-stove,  and  I  did  my 
own  cooking.  My  food  came  from  the  farm,  and  was 
prepared  on  the  stove  in  my  room  by  frying  the  pork 
on  the  top  and  roasting  the  potatoes  in  the  ashes ;  but 
occasionally  I  went  home,  four  miles  away,  for  a 
square  meal. 

"On  Wednesdays  we  had  rhetoricals.  A  teacher 
named  Drake  seemed  to  take  pleasure  in  criticising 
and  humiliating  me  before  my  fellow-students.  One 
day  I  opened  on  Drake  in  an  outrageous  speech.  He 
ordered  me  off  the  platform,  following  the  command, 
when  I  didn't  go,  with  a  push.  The  girls  screamed 
and  the  boys  laughed.  Then  I  went  outside  and 
finished  my  speech  on  the  fence." 


1862]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        21 

There  are  still  living  several  who  remember  the  old 
days  in  Kingsville  Academy.  Norris  L.  Gage,  of 
Ashtabula,  Ohio,  in  a  letter  to  his  brother  Stephen, 
who  was  a  student  there  at  the  same  time  as  the  Bur 
rows  boys,  writes  of  this  period: 

"I  persuaded  my  mother  to  allow  me  to  attend  the 
exhibition  which  took  place  in  the  Baptist  Church  at 
the  close  of  the  Fall  term  at  Kingsville  Academy.  I 
had  no  shoes,  but  that  mattered  not,  as  boys  of  nine 
or  ten  years  were  not  expected  to  wear  shoes  until 
snow  commenced  to  fly  in  November.  The  fact  that 
I  had  no  coat  I  knew  was  a  substantial  drawback,  but 
I  had  a  sort  of  calico  vest,  and  my  mother  had  care 
fully  prepared  a  clean  white  shirt  which,  with  linen 
trousers  and  a  cap,  completed  my  outfit  for  the  occa 
sion.  When  ready  to  start  I  was  much  astonished, 
on  looking  down  at  myself,  to  see  what  a  white  and 
ghostlike  appearance  I  presented.  My  mother,  how 
ever,  encouraged  me  my  saying  that  if  I  behaved  as 
well  as  I  looked  all  would  be  well,  and  I  started  with 
a  light  heart  and  nimble  feet. 

"I  remember  one  incident  of  a  startling  nature.  It 
seems  that  as  a  climax  one  of  the  Burrows  boys,  either 
'Rome'  or  Julius  Caesar,  was  to  declaim  a  piece  called 
The  Maniac.'  He  had  stationed  himself  in  the  hall, 
and  when  his  name  was  called  he  jumped  and  struck 
the  open  door  with  fists  and  feet,  making  a  great 


22  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1837 

clatter  and  outcry,  and  then  strode  up  the  aisle 
towards  the  rostrum,  both  hands  clutched  in  his  own 
dishevelled  hair,  a  look  of  agony  on  his  face,  scream 
ing  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  'I  am  not  mad,  I  am  not 
mad,'  finishing  his  recitation  in  the  same  tragic  man 
ner.  It  was  deemed  a  great  piece  of  oratory." 

After  his  experience  at  Kingsville,  Burrows  at 
tended  the  academy  at  Austinburg,  in  the  same 
county,  teaching  school  during  the  Winter  months,  as 
did  also  his  sister  and  five  of  his  brothers.  By  the 
time  he  was  eighteen  years  old  he  was  regarded  as  a 
competent  pedagogue,  and  was  appointed  principal 
of  a  "female"  seminary  in  Madison,  Lake  County, 
Ohio.  It  was  here  that  the  romance  of  his  life 
occurred,  for  the  assistant  principal  was  Miss  Jennie 
S.  Hibbard,  to  whom  he  was  married  within  a  few 
months,  on  January  31,  1856,  just  after  passing  his 
nineteenth  birthday.  The  letter  written  by  the 
youthful  and  admiring  assistant  principal  to  an 
nounce  to  her  uncle  her  engagement  is  so  charmingly 
naive  that  it  is  given  here  in  full: 

From  Miss  Jennie  S.  Hibbard 

MADISON  SEM.,  November,  19th,  '55 

VERY  DEAR  UNCLE: 

Here  I  am  pleasantly  located  in  the  flourishing 
town  of  Madison,  surrounded  by  all  the  pleasures  life 


MRS.     JULIUS     C.     BURROWS 

Jennie  S.  Hibbard 
1860 


1862]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        23 

would  seek.  You  may  wish  to  know  why  I  am  here 
and  what  I  am  engaged  in  (perhaps  the  question 
would  be  full  as  easily  answered  were  you  to  ask  who 
I  am  engaged  to — however,  we  will  let  that  pass  for 
the  present).  The  circular  within  may  partially 
furnish  you  with  an  answer.  Suffice  it  to  add  that 
we  have  a  very  exceedingly  pleasant  school.  This  is 
the  first  week  of  our  second  term — eleven  weeks  each. 
Mr.  J.  C.  Burrows,  you  will  see  by  the  advertisement, 
is  principal,  and  Miss  Jennie  S.  Hibbard  his  assistant. 
He  is  a  gentleman  eighteen  years  of  age,  irreproach 
able  character,  generous  impulses,  and  endowed 
with  a  giant  intellect  which  threatens  some  future  day 
to  make  the  world  tremble.  There's  a  certain  honor 
able  nobility  about  him  that  serves  at  once  as  a  pass 
port  to  the  best  of  society.  He  is  at  once  distin 
guished  from  the  common  mind — a  gentleman  from 
Geneva  where  he  resides  says  he  is  the  most  talented 
man  in  America;  so  you  see,  Uncle,  I  am  not  the  only 
one  that  admires  his  character.  Mayhaps  you  may 
think  that  my  regard  for  him  amounts  to  something 
more  than  admiration,  and  indeed,  dear  Uncle,  can 
you  present  any  good  reason  why  it  should  not?  We 
board  at  the  same  place  and  have  a  common  sitting- 
room,  consequently  I  am  thrown  into  his  company 
continually.  Thereby  I  have  ample  opportunity  of 
noting  the  various  passions  which  actuate  him,  and 


24  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1837 

I  can  say  truthfully  that  I  have  never  known  him  to 
do  aught  but  was  honorable  and  praiseworthy.  He 
is  at  present  engaged  at  the  same  table  with  myself 
writing  an  original  speech,  which  he  anticipates  de 
livering  before  long  at  Centerville  in  the  townhouse. 
You  may  well  think  I  am  proud  of  the  conquest  I 
have  gained,  and  I  will  nobly  strive  to  fill  with  honor 
the  important  station  I  am  about  to  occupy. 

I  often  think  how  Aunt  Sarah  almost  blamed  me 
because  I  refused  the  addresses  of  a  certain  young 

man — the  first  letters  of  his  name  are  C A . 

He  has  since  married  M H ,  and  is  no  more 

to  be  compared  with  your  prospective  nephew  than  a 
soap-bubble  to  the  foaming  waters  of  Niagara.  Mr. 
Burrows  is  at  times  mirthful,  but  again  the  Goddess  of 
Thought  holds  sway  over  him,  proud  of  her  high  mis 
sion.  He  will  probably  teach  here  one  term  more, 
and  then  will  commence  reading  law.  A  life  of  use 
fulness  is  predicted  by  all.  He  has  one  brother  read 
ing  law  now  at  Cleveland,  another  at  Hamilton  Col 
lege  preparing  for  the  ministry,  another  a  practicing 
physician  at  Lenox — quite  a  literary  family  methinks 
I  hear  you  say,  and  indeed  they  are ;  and  now,  Uncle, 
if  I  wasn't  afraid  I  should  blush  (right  before  him, 
too)  I  would  tell  you  that  I  am  about  to  launch  off  into 
the  peculiar  state  of  connubial  bliss  with  this  mighty 
genius,  and  then  I  would  not  only  ask  but  implore 


1862]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        25 

of  you  and  Aunties  to  come  and  help  celebrate  the 
nuptials;  but  you  know  I  am  an  extremely  bashful 
child,  therefore  you  must  take  the  will  for  the  deed, 
and  imagine  what  delicacy  forbids  me  to  write. 

Now,  Uncle,  if  you  love  me  or  regard  my  most 
ardent  wishes,  do  arrange  your  business  so  as  to  be 
at  our  house  January  3lst.,  9  o'clock  A.  M.,  and  I  am 
not  willing  that  any  should  arrange  my  bridal  array 
save  Aunts  Mary  and  Sally.  Oh,  you  will  come, 
won't  you?  All  of  you.  Come  at  least  a  week 
before  the  great  event  transpires.  I  know  you  never 
will  regret  it.  If  you  knew  how  much  it  would  con 
duce  to  my  happiness  I  know  you  wouldn't  refuse  me 
this  one  request.  Please  write  soon  and  let  me  know 
your  decision,  but  please  don't  say  no ;  and  now,  Aunt 
Sally,  I  am  about  to  ask  a  great  favor  of  you.  Will 
you  grant  it?  You  know  there  are  no  dressy  or  tasty 
milliners  around  here,  none  that  I  would  trust  to  make 
a  bridal  hat.  Your  skill  and  ingenuity  combined 
with  Aunt  Mary's  excellent  taste  alone  can  please  my 
fancy.  Is  the  boon  too  great  to  ask?  The  favor  is  a 
great  one  I  know,  and  yet  I  know  if  it  is  consistent 
with  your  previous  arrangements  you  will  make  it  for 
me,  but,  Auntie,  you  will  only  half  fulfill  the  request 
unless  you  come  and  bring  it.  Should  cruel  fate 
detain  you  perhaps  you  might  send  it.  Please  make 
it  so  by  a  little  changing  I  could  wear  it  next  Summer. 


26  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1837 

Please  let  me  know  soon  if  you  can  make  it;  if  not  I 
shall  have  to  go  to  Painesville  or  Cleveland. 

From  JENNIE  who  will  never  forget  you. 

If  you  do  not  all  come  I  shall  surely  cry  my  eyes 
all  out,  and  then  how  I'd  look  (and  a  bride  too). 

Post  Script  1st.  I  can't  send  this  till  I  go  home, 
for  I  have  forgotten  the  name  of  the  town  you  reside 
in. 

P.S.  2nd.  Pa  is  in  Buffalo,  but  will  be  at  home 
about  the  3 1st  of  January. 

P.S.  3rd.  Our  people  made  me  the  little  present 
of  a  gold  watch,  and  chain,  a  few  weeks  since.  Cost 
78V2  dollars. 

P.S.  4th.     Mr.  Burrows  sends  his  compliments. 

P.S.  5th.  If  you  cannot  decipher  this  scribbling 
you  had  better  come  right  down,  for  you  don't  know 
but  that  it  contains  very  important  news. 

P.S.  6th.  Guess  I've  told  all  I  know,  at  least 
can't  think  of  anything  else  to  say,  only  I  love  you  all 
prodigiously, 

Your  JENNIE 

Few  men  have  had  thrust  upon  them  the  necessity 
of  living  up  to  a  picture  such  as  is  here  drawn,  but  a 
perusal  of  the  war  letters  in  a  later  chapter  will  show 
how  well  the  youthful  husband  succeeded.  Their 
brief  married  life  was  filled  with  the  anxiety  and  the 


w 


1862]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        27 

pain  of  separation  incidental  to  the  Civil  War  period, 
but  Burrows  was  ever  her  "giant  intellect"  and  her 
"mighty  genius."  Never  did  she  doubt  his  ability 
"to  make  the  world  tremble." 

After  leaving  Madison,  in  the  Fall  of  1858  Bur 
rows  took  charge  of  the  Union  School  at  Jefferson, 
Ashtabula  County,  Ohio,  as  principal.  While  here 
he  found  his  recreation  outside  of  school  hours  play- 
iny  "rounders"  with  Congressman  Joshua  R.  Gid- 
dings,  a  game  which  was  subsequently  developed  into 
our  National  pastime  of  baseball,  and  also  by  study 
ing  law  in  the  office  of  Cadwell  &  Simonds,  where  he 
finished  his  legal  studies,  and  a  year  later  was  ad 
mitted  to  the  bar. 

Jefferson,  like  Kingsville,  was  in  the  midst  of  the 
famous  old  Nineteenth  Congressional  District  of 
Ohio,  a  district  which  has  produced  more  distin 
guished  public  men  than  any  similar  area  in  Amer 
ica.  In  his  school  Burrows  had  as  pupils  the  chil 
dren  of  Giddings  and  of  Senator  Benjamin  F.  Wade, 
and  also  the  sisters  and  brothers  of  William  Dean 
Howells,  the  dean  of  American  letters.  Howells, 
indeed,  has  made  Jefferson  immortal  in  his  essay  on 
The  Country  Printer.  It  was  in  this  town  that  How- 
ells'  father  established  a  Whig  newspaper,  and 
Howells'  early  memories  of  those  days,  which  were 
contemporaneous  with  the  period  in  which  Burrows 


28  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1837 

lived  in  Jefferson,  give  a  charming  picture  of  the  place 
and  of  the  people: 

"The  county-seat,"  he  writes,  "was  a  village  of 
only  six  or  seven  hundred  inhabitants.  But,  as  the 
United  States  Senator  1  who  was  one  of  its  citizens 
used  to  say,  it  was  6a  place  of  great  political  priv 
ileges.'  The  dauntless  man  2  who  represented  the 
district  in  the  House  for  twenty  years,  and  who  had 
fought  the  anti-slavery  battle  from  the  first,  was  his 
fellow-villager,  and  more  than  compeer  in  distinc 
tion;  and,  besides  these,  there  was  nearly  always  a 
State  senator  or  representative  among  us.  The 
county  officers,  of  course,  lived  at  the  county-seat,  and 
the  leading  lawyers,  who  were  the  leading  politicians, 
made  their  homes  in  the  shadow  of  the  court-house, 
where  one  of  them  was  presently  elected  to  preside 
as  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas.  In  politics,  the 
county  was  already  overwhelmingly  Free-Soil,  as  the 
forerunner  of  the  Republican  Party  was  then  called; 
the  Whigs  had  hardly  gathered  themselves  together 
since  the  defeat  of  General  Scott  for  the  Presidency; 
the  Democrats,  though  dominant  in  State  and  Nation, 
and  faithful  to  slavery  at  every  election,  did  not 
greatly  outnumber  among  us  the  zealots  called  Gome- 
outers,  who  would  not  vote  at  all  under  a  constitution 
recognizing  the  right  of  men  to  own  men.  .  .  . 

i  Benjamin  F.  Wade.  2  Joshua  R.  Giddings. 


1862]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        29 

"The  people  of  the  county  were  mostly  farmers, 
and  of  these  nearly  all  were  dairy  men.  The  few 
manufactures  were  on  a  small  scale,  except  perhaps 
the  making  of  oars,  which  were  shipped  all  over  the 
world  from  the  heart  of  the  primeval  forests  densely 
wooding  the  vast  levels  of  the  region.  The  portable 
steam  saw-mills  dropped  down  on  the  borders  of  the 
woods  have  long  since  eaten  their  way  through  and 
through  them,  and  devoured  every  stick  of  timber  in 
most  places,  and  drunk  up  the  water-courses  that 
the  woods  once  kept  full;  but  at  that  time  half  the 
land  was  in  the  shadow  of  those  mighty  poplars  and 
hickories,  elms  and  chestnuts,  ashes  and  hemlocks; 
and  the  meadows  that  pastured  the  herds  of  red 
cattle  were  dotted  with  stumps  as  thick  as  harvest 
stubble.  Now  .  .  .  there  is  more  money  in  the 
hands  of  the  farmers  there,  though  there  is  still  so 
little  that  by  any  city  scale  it  would  seem  comically 
little,  pathetically  little;  but  forty  years  ago  there  was 
so  much  less  that  fifty  dollars  seldom  passed  through 
a  farmer's  hands  in  a  year.  Payment  was  made  in 
kind  rather  than  in  coin,  and  every  sort  of  farm  prod 
uce  was  legal  tender  at  the  printing-office.  Wood 
was  welcome  in  any  quantity,  for  the  huge  box-stove 
consumed  it  with  inappeasable  voracity.  .  .  .  Per 
haps  this  was  not  so  much  the  fault  of  the  stove  as  of 
the  building.  In  that  cold,  lake-shore  country  the 


30  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1837 

people  dwelt  in  wooden  structures  almost  as  thin  and 
flimsy  as  tents.  .  .  . 

"Our  county  was  the  most  characteristic  of  that 
remarkable  group  of  counties  in  northern  Ohio  called 
the  Western  Reserve,  and  forty  years  ago  the  popula 
tion  was  almost  purely  New  England  in  origin,  either 
by  direct  settlement  from  Connecticut,  or  indirectly 
after  the  sojourn  of  a  generation  in  New  York  State. 
We  were  ourselves  from  southern  Ohio,  where  the 
life  was  then  strongly  tinged  by  the  adjoining  life  of 
Kentucky  and  Virginia,  and  we  found  these  trans 
planted  Yankees  cold  and  blunt  in  their  manners; 
but  we  did  not  undervalue  their  virtues.  They 
formed  in  that  day  a  leaven  of  right  thinking  and  feel 
ing  which  was  to  leaven  the  whole  lump  of  the  other 
wise  pro-slavery  or  indifferent  State;  and  I  suppose 
that  outside  of  the  anti-slavery  circles  of  Boston  there 
was  nowhere  in  the  country  a  population  so  resolute 
and  so  intelligent  in  its  political  opinions.  They 
were  very  radical  in  every  way,  and  hospitable  to 
novelty  of  all  kinds.  I  imagine  that  they  tested  more 
new  religions  and  new  patents  than  have  been  even 
heard  of  in  less  inquiring  communities.  When  we 
came  among  them  they  had  lately  been  swept  by  the 
fires  of  spiritualism,  which  left  behind  a  great  deal  of 
smoke  and  ashes  where  the  inherited  New  England 
orthodoxy  had  been.  .  .  .  The  old  New  York  Trib- 


1862]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        31 

une,  which  was  circulated  in  the  county  almost  as 
widely  as  our  own  paper,  had  deeply  schooled  the 
people  in  the  economics  of  Horace  Greeley,  and  they 
were  ready  for  any  sort  of  millennium,  religious  or 
industrial,  that  should  arrive,  while  they  looked  very 
wisely  after  the  main  chance  in  the  meantime.  They 
were  temperate,  hard-working,  hard-thinking  folks, 
who  dwelt  on  their  scattered  farms,  and  came  up  to 
the  county  fair  once  a  year." 

The  period  at  Jefferson,  though  not  extended,  was 
of  vital  importance  to  Burrows.  The  companionship 
with  Giddings  and  the  discussions  with  Wade  broad 
ened  his  horizon,  for  their  life  in  Washington  gave 
them  knowledge  of  and  experience  in  National  affairs 
which  they  brought  home  and  disseminated  among 
those  whose  limits  were  restricted.  The  arguments 
the  boy  had  learned  by  heart  from  his  father  had  been 
worn  threadbare  long  since,  but  in  his  contact  with 
these  men  who  knew  the  world  so  much  better  he 
found  that  the  principles  he  had  assimilated  were  the 
same.  The  community  in  which  he  settled  was  com 
posed  of  men,  as  Howells  says,  "of  right  thinking  and 
feeling,"  "resolute  and  intelligent  in  their  political 
opinions."  As  the  mentor  of  their  children,  Burrows 
was  forced  to  crystallize  and  express  in  definite  form 
the  conclusions  he  had  reached,  and  all  this  tended  to 

iHowelU:  "Impressions  and  Experiences,"  pp.  5-18. 


32  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1837 

set  his  ideas  in  a  mold  at  a  time  in  his  life  when  con 
victions  struck  deep. 

Here  at  Jefferson,  Ohio,  his  daughter  1  was  born, 
and  here  he  had  his  first  taste  of  real  home  life;  but  a 
broader  field  opened  for  him  in  an  opportunity  to  take 
charge  of  what  was  then  known  as  the  Prairie  Semi 
nary  at  Richland,  in  Kalamazoo  County,  Michigan. 
Thither  he  took  his  little  family  in  1859,  "by  rail  to 
Three  Rivers,  by  stage  to  Kalamazoo,  and  by  foot  to 
Richland."  This  marked  his  entrance  into  the  State 
whose  history  he  was  to  affect,  and  whose  representa 
tive  he  was  to  be  in  Washington  for  a  period  equaled 
by  few  men  in  the  annals  of  the  country. 

Of  his  work  at  Richland,  Burrows  makes  this  com 
ment:  "I  was  a  stranger,  and  that  is  probably  why 
I  was  successful.  I  was  engaged  to  teach  all  the 
branches,  but  some  I  had  never  even  studied.  That 
year  was  a  delightful  one.  I  did  not  have  a  single 
rule  in  the  school.  I  simply  tried  to  teach  the 
scholars  to  do  something  and  to  be  something." 

As  the  personal  development  progressed,  Burrows 
found  the  profession  of  teaching  more  and  more  irk 
some.  He  could  never  be  contented  to  show  others 
how  "to  do  something  and  to  be  something";  he  him- 

iMeda  Burrows,  Senator  Burrows'  only  child,  married  George 
McNeir,  Esquire,  of  New  York,  on  October  16,  1881.  Her  two  sons 
are  Burrows  McNeir  and  Thomas  Shepherd  McNeir. 


1862]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        33 

self  must  be  the  doer.  With  his  admission  to  the  bar 
he  saw  his  opportunity  to  place  himself  nearer  to  the 
center  of  things,  and  in  the  Fall  of  1861  he  cut  himself 
loose  from  the  restraint  of  the  schoolroom,  moving  to 
Kalamazoo  and  entering  upon  the  practice  of  law. 
He  felt  stirring  within  him  the  desire  to  express  those 
ideals  of  the  new  Republican  Party;  he  had  taken  part 
in  two  Presidential  campaigns,  and  had  seen  Lincoln 
elected;  he  sensed  the  meaning  of  this  first  success  of 
the  new  political  organization,  and  knew  that 'as  an 
expounder  of  the  law  he  could  advance  its  principles 
with  greater  effectiveness. 

Like  all  young  lawyers,  Burrows  experienced  a 
hard  struggle  at  the  beginning  of  his  career,  and  he 
used  to  boast  that  his  books  showed  an  income  of  a 
dollar  and  a  half  for  the  first  three  months'  business. 
Still  the  fact  remains  that  he  quickly  made  himself 
felt  in  his  profession,  and  won  an  enviable  reputation 
as  a  jury  lawyer,  where  his  oratorical  powers  made 
themselves  felt.  That  he  was  well-grounded  in  the 
general  principles  of  law  is  evident  in  all  his  impor 
tant  speeches  in  Congress,  and  during  the  brief  breaks 
in  his  public  life,  when  he  returned  to  his  practice, 
his  services  were  always  in  demand. 

In  his  law  practice,  Burrows  first  associated  himself 
with  A.  A.  Knappen,  and  between  these  two  men 
there  developed  a  deep  personal  friendship  which 


34  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1837 

lasted  throughout  their  lifetime.  Knappen  was  an 
older  man,  but  was  in  full  sympathy  with  the  enthusi 
asm  of  his  youthful  partner,  encouraging  him  in  his 
ambitions  and  cooperating  with  him  in  his  patriotic 
services.  During  Burrows'  absence  at  the  front  sev 
eral  interesting  letters  passed  between  them,  evidenc 
ing  mutual  affection  and  admiration.1 

Burrows  was  not  permitted  long  to  continue  in  the 
work  of  his  profession.  The  time  was  close  at  hand 
when  men's  thoughts  were  forced  to  turn  in  directions 
other  than  those  of  peaceful  pursuits,  professional  or 
otherwise.  The  people  of  the  North  had  not  grasped, 
as  those  of  the  South  clearly  had,  the  significance 
of  Lincoln's  election  of  i860;  for  they  could  not  be 
lieve  it  possible  that  any  actual  conflict  in  arms  could 
take  place  between  themselves  and  their  own  brothers 
in  birth.  Even  when  South  Carolina  held  her  Legis 
lature  in  session  until  the  news  could  be  received  as 
to  the  majority  in  the  electoral  college,  and  before 
adjournment,  when  it  became  known  that  Lincoln 
was  elected,  promptly  provided  for  the  purchase  of 

iQn  December  15,  1862,  Knappen  writes  him:  "Yours  of  the  7th 
inst.  was  received  yesterday,  and  you  may  rest  assured  that  it  was 
perused  with  eager  interest.  I  really  believe  the  more  of  them  I  re 
ceive  the  more  I  prize  them,  and  it  is  not  strange, — a  friendship  such 
as  ours  to  be  committed  to  paper !  You  cannot  make  them  too  long. 
The  only  reason  I  do  not  write  more  is  that  I  am  ashamed  of  them  in 
comparison  with  yours.  .  .  .  Now  let  me  close  this  by  repeating  what  I 
have  so  often  said  to  you:  Don't  be  rash,  but  only  brave, — you  cannot 
improve  your  reputation  for  fighting." 


1862]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY       35 

arms,  the  North  still  refused  to  believe  that  any  crisis 
was  at  hand.  When  South  Carolina,  Mississippi, 
Florida,  Alabama,  Georgia,  Louisiana,  and  Texas 
formally  declared  themselves  separated  from  the 
Union,  many  intelligent  Northern  men  questioned  in 
their  own  minds  whether  any  one  could  legally  dis 
pute  their  action.  The  Southern  States  assumed 
that  inasmuch  as  each  one  had  entered  the  Union  of 
its  own  free  will,  and  might  at  that  time  have  declined 
to  become  a  member  of  it,  it  was  unquestionably 
within  their  rights  to  withdraw,  as  from  any  other 
partnership,  when  cause  for  such  withdrawal  ap 
peared  to  exist.  When  South  Carolina  sent  com 
missioners  to  Washington  to  arrange,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  for  a  proper  division  of  the  National  debt,  and 
for  the  formal  transferal  of  all  National  property  ly 
ing  within  her  borders,  President  Buchanan  was  at  a 
loss  to  know  how  to  meet  the  situation.  A  peace  con 
ference  was  called  to  discuss  and  to  arrange  such 
problems  as  arose  in  connection  with  the  breaking 
away  of  these  States  from  their  sister  members  of  the 
Union,  and  no  one  seemed  to  know  where  the  line 
could  properly  be  drawn.  Before  the  Federal  au 
thorities  could  come  to  any  conclusion,  the  Confeder 
acy  had  taken  possession  of  every  fortified  position 
in  the  South  except  Fortress  Monroe,  Fort  Sumter, 
Fort  Pickens,  and  the  Key  West  fortifications.  Pres- 


36  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1837 

ident  Buchanan's  advisers  were  equally  at  sea. 
Some  contended  that  the  Southern  States  had  a  per 
fect  right  to  act  as  they  were  acting,  while  others 
denied  this  right,  but  could  formulate  no  action  to 
check  it.  Under  these  circumstances  they  calmly 
stood  aside,  and  waited  to  see  what  the  new  Repub 
lican  Party,  successful  now  for  the  first  time,  could 
accomplish. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  SOLDIER-HUSBAND.     1862-1863 

NO  chapter  in  Burrows'  life  is  more  illuminating 
from  the  standpoint  of  character  study  than 
that  which  includes  his  mental  attitude  and  physical 
action  during  the  stirring  period  of  the  Civil  War. 
The  formation  of  the  Republican  Party  in  1854,  to 
which  allusion  has  already  been  made,  the  struggle 
over  Kansas,  the  attack  made  in  the  Senate  Chamber 
by  Brooks  upon  Sumner,  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  the 
John  Brown  raid,  the  wranglings  in  the  Thirty- 
fourth,  the  Thirty-fifth,  and  the  Thirty-sixth  Con 
gresses, — all  were  landmarks  of  cumulative  impor 
tance  as  the  partisans  of  slavery  and  anti-slavery 
grew  farther  and  farther  apart,  reaching  a  climax  in 
the  Republican  nomination  of  Lincoln  for  President. 
For  the  first  time  the  two  factions  were  squarely 
pitted  against  each  other,  and  the  long-smouldering 
mass  received  the  spark  which  turned  it  into  a  con 
flagration. 

Burrows  could  see  no  compromise.  Slavery  was 
the  one  blot  upon  his  country,  slavery  threatened  the 
very  life  of  the  Republic,  and  those  who  favored  it 

37 


38  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

were  traitors.  The  lessons  learned  at  his  father's 
knee,  the  influence  of  the  visit  to  his  home  of  Fred 
Douglass,  the  arguments  he  had  heard  at  the  meetings 
of  the  debating-societies,  the  discussions  at  Jefferson 
with  Giddings  and  Wade,  combined  to  make  him  look 
upon  his  enrolment  in  the  newly-formed  Republican 
Party  as  a  responsibility  which  could  not  be  lightly 
considered.  His  duty  lay  not  only  in  his  expression 
of  his  opinion  at  the  polls,  but  also  in  making  use  of 
his  power  as  a  speaker,  even  as  a  youth,  in  stimulat 
ing  others  to  his  own  high  pitch  of  enthusiasm. 

Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon  on  April  12,  1861, 
and  three  days  later  President  Lincoln  called  by  proc 
lamation  for  seventy-five  thousand  volunteers.  Bur 
rows  was  inflamed  with  patriotism,  and  would  have 
enlisted  at  once  except  for  pressure  brought  to  bear 
upon  him  by  influential  friends  who  urged  him  to 
make  use  of  his  natural  gifts  to  arouse  and  maintain  a 
similar  degree  of  patriotic  fervor  among  his  towns 
men.  His  law  practice  was  forgotten,  Blackstone 
gave  way  to  tactics  of  war,  and  clients  were  turned 
into  recruits.  This  service  was  recognized  by  Gov 
ernor  Austin  Blair  by  issuing  a  commission  to  Bur 
rows  as  Captain  of  Company  D,  Seventeenth  Michi 
gan  Infantry,  under  date  of  June  17,  1862.  This 
regiment  had  been  organized  in  Detroit  in  the  Spring 
of  1862  with  an  enrolment  of  982  officers  and  men, 


CAPTAIN     BURROWS     (1862) 

26 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        39 

under  the  command  of  Colonel  William  H.  Withing- 
ton  of  Jackson. 

With  the  signing  of  his  commission  Burrows  saw 
no  legitimate  excuse  for  postponing  the  forward 
movement  of  his  regiment.  Patience  has  never  been 
a  characteristic  of  youth,  and  although  a  captain 
Burrows  was  still  a  boy.  Patriots  older  than  he 
chafed  at  the  seeming  deliberation  with  which  the 
President  and  his  Cabinet  met  the  crises,  and  became 
disheartened  by  the  delays  and  excuses  made  by  Mc- 
Clellan,  which  gave  the  Southern  army  opportunity 
to  augment  its  strength  and  to  gain  prestige  by  its 
early  successes.  Burrows  fairly  fumed  over  the  "un 
warranted  delays"  and  the  restraint  they  imposed,  un 
til  at  last  he  burst  forth  in  a  burning  letter  to  a  local 
Kalamazoo  paper.  It  is  youthful  in  expression  and 
grandiloquent  in  style,  but  it  displays  the  boy's  tem 
per,  and  pictures  the  sentiment  of  the  period: 

"When  this  direful  rebellion  first  showed  its  hide 
ous  front,  and  commenced  its  war  of  murder  and 
rapine,"  he  wrote,  "the  loyal  people,  responding 
magnanimously  to  the  call  of  the  President,  were  told 
that  this  rebellion  should  be  put  down  by  the  strong 
arm  of  the  Government,  and  that  in  a  few  months 
peace  would  smile  upon  our  country.  Stimulated 
by  that  promise,  and  urged  forward  by  an  undying 
love  for  our  institutions,  our  men  of  wealth  poured 


40  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1862 

forth  their  treasures,  and  many  a  home  took  from 
the  chain  of  its  circle  the  golden  link,  and  placed  it 
with  tears  upon  its  country's  altar.  The  people,  con 
fiding  in  their  rulers,  have  not  lagged  in  their  duty, 
but  life  and  treasure  have  been  at  the  command  of 
the  Government.  All  that  the  people  could  do  has 
been  done  willingly,  and  with  an  energy  and  earnest 
ness  unequaled  in  the  history  of  the  past.  Almost 
by  magic  a  mighty  army  sprang  into  existence,  and 
with  uplifted  arms  stood  ready  to  smite  the  despoiler 
to  the  earth.  But  the  blow  was  arrested.  The  peo 
ple  were  wisely  told  that  the  troops  must  be  drilled, 
and  that  the  weather  was  too  warm  to  venture  on  a 
Southern  campaign;  and  that  until  the  weather 
should  be  more  favorable,  traitors  must  rule. 

"How  the  hard  Northern  cheek  tingled  with  shame 
and  indignation  at  the  thought  that  homes  must  be 
plundered,  loyal  American  citizens  insulted  and  mur 
dered,  and  our  flag,  the  idol  of  the  heart,  torn  and 
trailed  in  the  dust,  simply  because  the  weather  was 
not  suited  to  the  taste  of  'red  tape'!  Yet  the  people 
endured  and  obeyed  the  high  mandate,  and  were  still 
cheered  with  the  promise  that  when  that  propitious 
time  should  arrive  the  blow  would  be  struck.  Then 
all  minds  were  directed  to  the  coming  Fall  as  the 
probable  time  when  the  army  would  move.  The 
heart  was  filled  with  new  life,  and  the  people  almost 


1863]  AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY  41 
forgot  their  chagrin  in  the  labors  for  the  coming  con< 
flict.  To  the  honest  soldier  it  seemed  as  if  Nature 
herself  had  forgotten  to  move,  his  heart  throbbed  so 
impatiently  for  the  eventful  hour  when  traitors 
should  have  dealt  out  to  them  the  punishment  they 
richly  merit. 

"Autumn  came,  and  the  people  were  coolly  told 
that  Winter  was  the  proper  time  for  the  marching  of 
our  armies,  and  until  then  we  must  be  content  to  for 
tify  and  drill.  Again  the  people  were  utterly  con 
founded,  and  lost  all  confidence  in  those  they  had 
trusted.  The  nations  of  the  whole  world  were  de 
riding  our  timidity,  and  threatening  us  with  destruc 
tion  if  we  did  not  show  ourselves  worthy  of  the  title 
we  bore.  Yet  all  to  no  avail, — the  army  must  drill ! 
Winter  comes,  and  lo !  and  behold !  this  is  not  a  favor 
able  time,  and  the  army  must  go  into  Winter  quarters ! 
The  roads  are  good,  the  soldiers  are  impatient,  the 
people  are  ready,  but  the  Government  at  Washington 
says,  6Not  yet.'  Winter  is  half  spent,  and  the  mighty 
army  of  two  hundred  thousand  men  on  the  Potomac 
is  patiently  resting  in  Winter  quarters.  Now  what 
will  these  shoulder-strap  gentlemen — what  can  the 
Executive  say?  When  will  they  tell  us  that  the  time 
for  fighting  has  come?  Will  it  be  in  the  Spring, 
when  the  roads  are  impassable,  and  disease  and  death 
are  thinning  our  ranks?  Will  it  be  when  the  Nation 


42  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

is  stripped  of  its  wealth,  and  has  given  its  all  to  no 
effect?  Will  it  be  when  the  people  are  disheartened 
and  exhausted  and  are  willing  to  submit  to  anything 
for  peace?  Or  will  those  in  authority  let  the  soldiers 
strike — -cease  to  fatten  upon  the  wealth  of  the  people, 
and  'let  slip  the  dogs  of  war,  that  this  foul  deed  may 
smell  above  the  earth  with  carrion  men  groaning  for 
burial'? 

"When  we  shall  get  through  making  big  men, 
when  we  shall  cease  our  grand  reviews  and  begin  our 
grand  march,  when  our  Government  has  the  manli 
ness  and  courage  to  look  traitors  in  the  face  and  say, 
6So  far  and  no  farther,'  when  it  gets  through  patting 
treason  and  licking  the  feet  of  traitors,  when  the  Gov 
ernment  dares  speak  in  our  Congress,  in  our  Execu 
tive,  in  his  Cabinet,  not  by  wordy  proclamations  but 
by  law  and  bullets,  then,  and  not  till  then  shall  we  be 
victorious." 

Lincoln's  long-suffering  patience  was  incompre 
hensible  to  Burrows,  as  it  was  to  others.  Later,  the 
youthful  patriot  was  to  understand  that  the  great 
hearted  President  was  willing  to  endure  insult  and 
mockery  if  by  so  doing  he  might  prevent  the  necessity 
of  continuing  the  fratricidal  conflict.  To  him,  the 
"rebels"  were  never  traitors,  but  rather  misguided, 
rebellious  members  of  that  great  family  over  which 
he  ruled  as  head,  and  he  tried  to  win  them  back  by 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        43 

acts  of  mercy  and  conciliation.  Burrows  came  to 
realize  this  later,  and  his  splendid  Eulogy  of  Lincoln, 
spoken  on  June  1,  1865,  shortly  after  the  President's 
assassination,  is  interesting  not  only  for  the  changed 
attitude  but  also  for  the  dignity  in  style  which  was 
indicative  of  the  personal  development  three  years 
had  wrought.  Seldom  has  a  man  so  promptly  and  so 
completely  answered  his  own  criticism: 

"While  the  ship  of  State  was  rocking  upon  rebel 
lion's  angry  sea,"  he  said,  "Lincoln  added  no  breath 
to  the  storm,  but  his  words  of  sober  counsel  fell  like 
oil  upon  the  troubled  waters.  Every  loyal  heart  in 
the  whole  country,  in  its  mad  impatience,  demanded 
daring  measures  and  proclamations  that  should  have 
the  ring  of  an  Andrew  Jackson  in  them;  but  while 
this  policy  might  have  received  the  approval  of  us  all, 
yet  it  is  equally  probable  that  it  would  have  been  pro 
ductive  of  but  little  good,  and  might  have  proven  an 
act  of  National  suicide.  A  breath  of  hasty  passion 
from  the  Executive  head  would  have  swept  the  whole 
line  of  border  States  into  the  whirlpool  of  rebellion, 
and  nursed  the  spirit  of  Northern  opposition  into  for 
midable  proportions.  But  with  what  wisdom  and 
calmness,  as  he  stood  upon  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  he 
addressed  Kentuckians,  then  vacillating  between  loy 
alty  and  treason,  repeating  to  them  what  he  had 
uttered  upon  a  former  occasion.  6We  mean  to  treat 


44  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN  [1862 

you  as  near  as  we  possibly  can  as  Washington,  Jeffer 
son,  and  Madison  treated  you.  We  mean  to  leave 
you  alone,  and  in  no  way  to  interfere  with  your  insti 
tutions;  to  abide  by  all  and  every  compromise  of  the 
Constitution;  and,  in  a  word,  to  treat  you  according 
to  the  example  of  those  noble  fathers.  We  mean  to 
remember  that  you  are  as  good  as  we, — that  there  is 
no  difference  between  us  other  than  the  difference 
of  circumstances.  Fellow-citizens  of  Kentucky! 
friends!  brethren  may  I  call  you  in  my  new  position? 
I  see  no  occasion  and  feel  no  inclination  to  retract  a 
word  of  this.  If  it  shall  not  be  made  good,  be  assured 
the  fault  shall  not  be  mine.'  ' 

On  August  8,  1862,  the  heartbreaking  delay  came 
to  an  end,  the  Seventeenth  Michigan  was  mustered 
into  service,  and  on  August  27  it  started  for  Washing 
ton.  Here  it  was  assigned  to  the  First  Brigade,  First 
Division,  Ninth  Army  Corps.  In  a  letter  written 
from  camp  at  Waterford,  Virginia,  Burrows  describes 
their  first  experiences: 

"Our  trip  to  Washington  was  a  perfect  ovation," 
he  wrote.  "The  people  everywhere  cheered  us 
onward  and  bade  us  'Godspeed.9  After  arriving  at 
the  city  of  Washington,  and  marching  through  some 
of  the  principal  streets,  we  pitched  our  tents  upon  a 
hill  near  Fort  Baker,  and  named  the  camp  'Camp 
Willcox9  in  honor  of  that  noble  son  of  Michigan  who 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        45 

on  the  field  and  in  the  prison  is  the  same  undaunted 
hero.  While  here  in  camp  we  spent  our  time  in 
learning  the  use  of  the  axe  and  spade  in  obedience  to 
that  mysterious  strategy  'whose  ways  are  past  finding 
out.'  " 

Yet,  in  spite  of  this  apparent  delay,  which  caused 
Burrows  to  strain  at  the  leash,  it  was  only  a  little  more 
than  two  weeks  from  the  day  the  regiment  left  its 
State  before  it  found  itself  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the 
severest  battles  of  the  war,  taking  into  consideration 
the  numbers  engaged.  Few  regiments  received  so 
severe  a  test  of  their  courage  and  soldierly  qualities 
so  soon  after  arriving  in  the  field.  On  September  14 
the  Seventeenth,  with  the  Ninth  Corps,  engaged  the 
enemy  at  South  Mountain,  Maryland,  with  the  inten 
tion  of  crossing  the  mountain  through  Turner's  Gap, 
and  driving  the  Confederates  from  their  commanding 
positions  on  the  summit,  from  which  they  could  sweep 
with  their  artillery  the  narrow  roads  over  which  the 
Union  troops  must  pass.  The  Seventeenth  had  been 
so  recently  organized  and  was  so  inexperienced  in 
actual  warfare  that  the  men  could  not  appreciate  the 
desperate  task  assigned  them  until  the  enemy's  shot 
and  shell  were  crashing  through  their  ranks.  It  was 
another  "Taking  of  Lungtungpen,"  made  famous  by 
Kipling, — "'Tis  the  bhoys — the  raw  bhoys — that 
don't  know  fwat  a  bullet  manes,  an'  wudn't  care  av 


46  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

they  did — that  dhu  the  work.  .  .  .  Wud  fifty  seas 
oned  sodgers  have  taken  Lungtungpen  in  the  dhark 
that  way?  No !  They'd  know  the  risk  av  fever  and 
chill.  Let  alone  the  shootinV  When  the  order 
came  for  the  Seventeenth  to  charge,  the  regiment, 
indifferent  to  the  enemy  calmly  waiting  behind  their 
stone  walls  and  other  defenses,  rushed  through  the 
storm  of  lead  with  mad  cheers,  and  forced  the  Con 
federates  to  retreat  down  the  slope  of  the  mountain. 
The  regiment  lost  140  of  the  500  men  engaged,  but 
earned  the  proud  title  of  the  "Stonewall  Regiment." 
Three  days  later  the  Seventeenth  was  again  des- 

iWith  regard  to  the  conduct  of  the  Seventeenth  Michigan  in  the 
battle  of  South  Mountain,  General  O.  B.  Willcox,  the  division  com 
mander,  says:  "The  Seventeenth  Michigan,  Colonel  Withington,  per 
formed  a  feat  that  may  vie  with  any  recorded  in  the  annals  of  war, 
and  set  an  example  to  the  oldest  troops.  This  regiment  had  not  been 
organized  a  single  month,  and  was  composed  of  raw  levies."  (Official 
Records  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  Armies,  Series  I,  Volume  XIX, 
Part  I,  page  429.) 

Colonel  B.  C.  Christ,  the  Brigade  Commander,  says:  "Supported 
by  the  Seventy-ninth  New  York,  the  Seventeenth  Michigan  moved  stead 
ily  forward  until  they  arrived  within  good  range,  and  then  opened  a 
fire  on  the  enemy  with  terrible  effect,  .  .  .  driving  him  in  the  utmost 
confusion  across  the  field  into  the  woods,  and  capturing  a  number  of 
prisoners.  Under  any  circumstances  the  conduct  of  both  officers  and 
men  of  this  regiment  was  worthy  of  the  highest  commendation,  but 
especially  so  when  taking  into  consideration  that  they  were  mustered 
into  service  as  late  as  the  21st  of  August,  1862,  and  that  this  was 
their  first  engagement."  (Ibid.,  page  437.) 

General  McClellan,  the  army  commander,  also  says:  "General  Will- 
cox  praises  very  highly  the  conduct  of  the  Seventeenth  Michigan  in  this 
advance — a  regiment  which  had  been  organized  scarcely  a  month,  but 
which  charged  the  advancing  enemy  in  flank  in  a  manner  worthy  of 
veteran  troops."  (Ibid.,  page  50.) 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        47 

perately  engaged  at  Antietam,  Maryland,  in  that 
useless  attempt  to  carry  Burnside's  Bridge  when  the 
narrow  stream  could  have  been  easily  forded  above 
or  below.  The  success  of  the  regiment  in  gaining 
the  opposite  heights  was  at  a  fearful  cost  in  killed 
and  wounded. 

"It  is  often  asked — "  Burrows  writes,1  "and  I  pre 
sume  the  same  inquiry  is  made  at  home- — why  we  did 
not  advance  after  the  battle  of  Antietam.  The 
Rebels  had  been  driven  from  every  position  they  had 
taken,  they  had  been  defeated  in  two  pitched  battles, 
and  were  cowering  under  the  banks  of  the  Potomac. 
The  whole  of  the  Union  forces  had  not  been  engaged, 
the  soldiers  were  elated  with  their  victories  and  eager 
to  go  forward,  yet  at  the  very  moment  when  a  word 
would  have  annihilated  that  whole  Rebel  army,  not  a 
gun  was  fired  nor  a  man  moved.  For  one  whole  day 
and  night  the  Rebels  were  retreating  across  the  Po 
tomac  under  the  very  muzzles  of  our  guns.  Here  the 
war  might  have  been  ended,  but  strategy  forbade. 
The  only  excuse  offered  for  this  masterly  blunder  is 
that  we  were  out  of  ammunition." 

Unpreparedness!  Had  the  North  made  ready  for 
the  civil  struggle  from  the  moment  Fort  Sumter  was 
fired  upon,  victory  would  have  been  won  within  six 
months,  instead  of  dragging  over  four  awful  years! 

1  November  1,  1862. 


48  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

It  is  the  same  cry  from  this  youthful  captain  in  1862 
which  we  hear  from  every  experienced  army  com 
mander  in  1917.  The  sentiment  of  the  people  at 
large,  even  of  loyal  Republicans,  was  in  hearty 
accord  with  the  despair  and  disgust  of  the  soldiers  in 
the  field.  This  letter  to  Burrows  from  A.  A.  Knap- 
pen,  his  law  partner  (December  15,  1862),  is  graph 
ically  illuminating: 

From  A.  A.  Knap  pen 

God  only  knows  whether  I  am  writing  to  a  live  man 
or  a  corpse !  Yesterday's  news  of  the  battle  of  Fred- 
ericksburg  reached  us,  and  it  was  of  a  gloomy  char 
acter.  It  told  of  panic  in  Sumner's  Division  and 
terrible  slaughter — eight  generals  killed.  I  hope  the 
news  today  will  be  more  cheerful — will  tell  of  a  bril 
liant  victory  for  our  brave  troops,  the  enemy  routed 
and  broken,  and  their  artillery  and  commissary  stores 
captured,  and  Burnside,  with  "On  to  Richmond" 
inscribed  on  his  banner,  pursuing  the  retreating  foe. 
This  would  make  millions  of  loyal  hearts  throb  with 
pleasure  and  pride — it  would  be  a  rather  novel  sensa 
tion!  What!  pursue  a  flying  foe!  Preposterous, 
absurd!  When  have  we  done  as  rash  a  thing  as 
that?  But  once  or  twice  during  the  war.  But  I 
will  not  complain  to  one  who  feels  just  as  intensely 
as  I  do,  and  more  too.  I  know  you  are  confident  of 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        49 

going  to  Richmond,  and  I  hope  you  will  see  the  inside 
of  it.  But  I  confess  my  faith  is  oozing  out  by 
degrees.  There  is  no  head  or  heart  to  the  Adminis 
tration  sufficient  to  grapple  with  a  mighty  conspiracy. 
I  fear  there  is  too  much  weakness  at  the  bottom  of 
the  Cabinet.  To  tell  the  truth,  I  am  mad  at  the 
President's  Message  offering  to  pay  for  all  slaves, 
whether  belonging  to  Rebels  or  loyal  men!  There 
is  the  Major  Key  for  you!  Distrusting  the  power 
of  our  armies,  and  the  same  infernal  regard  for  the 
sacredness  of  slavery!  I  would  give  more  for  the 
little  finger  of  a  Jackson  or  a  Douglas  in  such  a  con 
test  as  this  than  I  would  for  the  whole  President  and 
Cabinet  of  today.  Lincoln  is  weak,  and  Seward  uses 
him  to  suit  his  great  strategic  purposes.  I  tremble 
while  I  hope  for  the  best.  The  people  here  are  get 
ting  more  and  more  disgusted  every  day.  The  whole 
thing  looks  like  child's  play  or  a  farce.  There  is  so 
much  vacillation  and  hesitating  about  measures  until 
the  golden  moment  has  sped.  It  is  enough  to  make 
one  weep  tears  of  blood.  We  know  the  soldiers  want 
to  do  their  work  thoroughly  and  well,  so  that  they 
can  come  home  and  rest  easy,  but  politicians  and 
speculators  wish  the  war  still  to  continue — and  it 
hangs  fire.  But  enough  of  this  grumbling.  I  am 
satisfied  that  you  must  feel  what  I  can  but  poorly 
express.  .  .  . 


50  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

Burrows  closes  his  own  letter  last  quoted  with  the 
following  comment:  "On  the  26th  inst.  Burnside's 
Corps  crossed  the  Potomac  near  Point  of  Rocks,  and 
we  at  last  stood  upon  the  soil  of  the  Old  Dominion. 
The  'Grand  Army  of  the  Potomac9  is  in  motion,  and 
if  it  is  defeated  the  soldiers  are  not  at  fault.  McClel- 
lan  has  not  yet  crossed,  but  there  is  great  activity 
along  the  Potomac,  and  we  all  hope  that  this  is  at 
last  advance,  and  that  our  generals  in  the  field  and 
the  apologists  of  treason  at  home  will  simply  let  the 
soldiers  go  forward.  They  will  deal  such  blows  upon 
the  heads  of  this  rebellious  crew  as  will  make  all 
rebeldom  resound  with  one  universal  shout  for 
mercy." 

After  the  battle  of  Antietam  there  was  no  active 
service  of  importance  until  the  bitter  struggle  on 
December  13  at  Fredericksburg,  where  the  Michigan 
Seventeenth  was  again  in  the  thickest  of  the  fight. 
The  severity  of  the  campaign  forced  Burrows  into  the 
hospital  after  Fredericksburg.  Suffering  from  ex 
haustion,  he  had  become  reduced  in  weight  to  eighty 
pounds,  and  he  was  granted  leave  of  absence  to  recu 
perate.  He  writes  home  from  Seminary  Hospital, 
January  9,  1863:  "I  am  going  to  'walk  the  Halls 
of  Congress'  some  day  this  week.  You  may  look  in 
the  paper  for  a  big  speech  if  my  health  continues  to 
improve!"  Happy  augury!  Could  he  have  fore- 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        51 

seen  how  many  speeches  he  was  yet  to  deliver  within 
those  Halls? 

His  anticipated  visit  was  postponed  by  the  slow 
ness  of  his  convalescence  until  the  latter  part  of 
February,  but  at  last  it  became  a  realization.  Wash 
ington  had  been  to  him  almost  a  mythical  city,  and 
his  imagination  had  clothed  it  with  every  beauty  and 
perfection.  Until  now,  his  vision  had  been  restricted 
to  the  rural  districts  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and 
Michigan.  His  knowledge  of  the  world  outside  had 
come  to  him  wholly  from  others.  To  Wade  and  Gid- 
dings  may  be  given  the  credit  for  having  fired  his 
enthusiasm,  but  it  was  that  powerful  attribute  of 
imagination  inherited  from  his  mother  which  colored 
the  pictures  upon  which  his  eyes  rested.  Washing 
ton  in  1863  was  far  from  being  the  model  city  one 
would  judge  from  reading  his  description.  The 
dome  of  the  Capitol  was  but  partly  put  in  place;  the 
Goddess  of  Liberty  reposed  near  by,  still  unpacked, 
— as  if  questioning  its  right  to  raise  its  head  in  the 
Capital  City  of  a  country  which  was  fighting  for  its 
existence;  beneath  the  Senate  Chamber,  where  the 
restaurant  now  is,  were  stored  rations  for  the  army, 
and  Washington  was  the  City  Militant,  in  process  of 
reconstruction,  rather  than  the  City  Beautiful  as  it 
appeared  to  Burrows'  enraptured  eyes. 

Still,  as  one  smiles  at  the  boyish  enthusiasm,  he 


52  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1862 

cannot  fail  to  ask  himself  what  youth  of  twenty-six 
today  could  possibly  be  stirred  by  such  emotions  as 
are  described  by  Burrows  when  he  found  himself 
within  the  Senate  Chamber, — or,  feeling  them,  could 
express  himself  in  such  words  of  patriotism.  This 
letter  to  his  wife,  written  on  February  28,  1863, 
immediately  after  his  return  from  Washington  to  the 
camp  of  the  Michigan  Seventeenth  at  Newport  News, 
Virginia,  demonstrates  how  carefully  he  had  followed 
those  events  of  National  importance  which  had 
brought  about  the  present  conflict : 

"I  hurried  through  the  crowds  which  block  up 
Pennsylvania  Avenue,  and  soon  found  myself  within 
the  enclosure  of  the  Capitol  grounds.  Nothing  can 
be  grander  than  this.  Its  winding  walks  paved  with 
marble,  its  shady  groves,  its  green  plots,  its  sparkling 
fountains,  present  to  the  eye  a  scene  of  mingled 
beauty  and  grandeur.  One  can  easily  imagine  him 
self  within  the  walls  of  Damascus,  wandering  among 
its  shady  groves,  and  resting  beneath  its  arched  wood. 

"You  reach  the  Capitol  by  ascending  stone  steps, 
and  from  the  porch  of  the  Capitol  you  can  see  the 
whole  city  spread  out  before  you  like  a  map.  The 
White  House,  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  the  Arsenal, 
and  the  hundred  buildings  of  public  interest  and 
dwellings  of  beauty  all  stand  out  in  bold  relief.  As 
you  enter  the  Capitol  the  eye  is  dazzled  with  the  mag- 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        53 

nificence  of  the  workmanship.  You  pass  through  its 
marble  halls,  and  at  length  reach  the  gallery  of  the 
Senate  and  House.  I  had  but  a  short  time  to  remain 
in  either  branch,  and  while  here  I  must  confess  that 
my  mind  was  more  occupied  with  the  memories  of 
the  past  than  the  scenes  before  me.  The  vast  ro 
tunda  is  crowded  with  paintings  of  the  first  class. 
Here  is  Webster,  Calhoun,  Clay,  Adams,  and  Jackson, 
— all  heroes.  Here  is  Washington,  the  hero  of  the 
Revolution,  the  father  of  our  country,  represented  at 
the  proudest  moment  of  his  life  when  he  received  at 
Yorktown  the  sword  of  England's  proudest  warrior. 
Here  is  Washington  as  he  surrended  his  commission 
to  the  Continental  Congress.  You  may  see  his  flash 
ing  eye,  the  firmly-compressed  lip,  all  speaking  of 
that  unconscious  purpose,  that  fixed  determination 
which  made  him  the  greatest  of  his  time.  May  we 
ever  cherish  his  memory,  and  never  suffer  the  Gov 
ernment,  of  which  he  is  the  father,  to  be  destroyed ! 
Mighty  warrior,  patriot,  and  statesman,  'hail  and 
farewell' ! 

"Here,  too,  is  the  representation  of  the  landing  of 
the  Pilgrims,  and  of  their  first  prayer  on  these  wild 
and  barbarous  shores,  driven  here  by  the  persecution 
of  their  fathers,  hoping  to  find  a  land  where  they 
could  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  their 
own  consciences.  Here,  too,  is  a  representation  of 


54  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

their  departure  for  their  unknown  homes,  the  parting 
blessing,  the  silent  tear,  the  last  firm  grasp  of  the 
hand  and  warm  pressure  of  the  lips,  the  'good  bye' 
trembling  on  the  tongue.  All  tell  of  that  bitter 
parting,  and  that  human  sympathy  and  affection  in 
1620  was  as  strong  and  as  pure  as  today.  Here,  too, 
is  the  representation  of  the  baptism  of  Pocahontas. 
What  a  sublime  spectacle  it  must  have  been !  That 
wild,  untutored  Indian  girl,  bowing  at  the  baptismal 
fount,  and  acknowledging  her  love  for  that  Being 
who  rules  and  governs  us  all.  Religion  tames  the 
savage,  purifies  the  soul,  elevates  our  natures,  and 
gives  us  something  to  live  for  here,  and  hope  for 
hereafter.  Real,  honest  Christianity  is  man's  first 
duty.  Every  man  should  be  a  Christian,  not  a  hypo 
crite.  If  there  is  one  thing  I  despise  above  another 
it  is  the  wearing  of  the  cloak  of  religion  to  cover  up 
sins  and  offences  that  'smell  to  heaven.'  I  see  so 
much  of  this  that  at  times  I  am  almost  led  to  believe 
that  there  is  no  sincerity  or  honesty  in  Christianity 
itself, — that  it  is  all  a  farce ;  but  when  I  see  the  noble 
example  of  these  honest  Christians  who  died  on  the 
altar  of  their  faith  I  cannot  doubt  that  Christianity 
and  obedience,  honest  and  submissive  to  the  govern 
ment  of  the  Supreme,  is  a  duty  we  owe  to  ourselves, 
to  our  fellow-man,  to  our  own  kindred,  and  to  our 
God. 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        55 

"I  fear  I  have  digressed  a  little,  but  such  pictures 
excite  a  thousand  thoughts  and  ten  thousand  emo 
tions.  There  were  other  paintings  here,  but  my  poor 
pen  cannot  do  them  justice;  hence  I  will  leave  them, 
trusting  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  you  can 
have  the  pleasure  of  seeing  them  yourself.  Let  us  go 
back  to  the  House. 

"I  cannot  describe  this  room.  The  stairs  leading 
to  the  gallery  are  made  of  Egyptian  marble,  costly 
and  rich.  The  gallery  extends  around  the  whole 
room,  and  down  beneath  is  the  assembly  of  the 
Nation's  representatives.  I  stayed  but  a  moment. 
The  Senate  Chamber  is  constructed  on  a  similar  plan, 
but  more  elegant.  Both  Houses  were  in  session. 
Here  is  the  first  great  battlefield  of  this  Rebellion, — 
not  of  sword  and  bayonet,  but  of  mind.  Here  is  the 
spot  where  slaveholders  have  been  crushed  and  routed 
by  the  mighty  artillery  of  irresistible  logic  and  elo 
quence,  and  this  Rebellion  is  but  a  natural  conse 
quence  of  their  defeat.  The  Southerner,  overpow 
ered  in  this  greater  battle,  resorted  to  brute  force  to 
defeat  logic.  It  was  natural.  But  what  pitched 
battles  have  been  fought  within  these  walls!  Here 
a  Calhoun  hurled  the  first  missiles  of  treason  to  this 
Government  in  his  struggle  for  State  rights.  His 
logic  seemed  irresistible,  his  eloquence  was  overpow 
ering,  and  for  a  moment  he  wore  the  crown  of  com- 


56  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

plete  triumph.  The  whole  South,  with  its  minions 
at  the  North,  sent  up  their  shout  of  victory,  and 
exultation  ran  mad.  The  North  was  filled  with 
gloom  and  sadness.  Massachusetts  lay  bleeding  at 
the  feet  of  South  Carolina,  and  it  needed  a  master 
workman  to  bind  up  her  wounds.  But  we  did  not 
wait  long.  Daniel  Webster,  the  Godlike  and  immor 
tal  Webster,  stepped  into  the  arena  and  unmasked  his 
batteries.  Then  the  Nation  was  breathless.  They 
had  felt  the  power  of  the  enemy,  and  they  feared  the 
result  of  the  contest;  but  Webster  knew  his  strength. 
He  threw  up  no  fortifications,  no  breastworks  of 
sophistry,  but  came  out  on  the  broad  field  of  truth, 
and  opened  upon  the  enemy.  It  needed  but  a  few 
shots  to  tell  us  that  there  was  a  master  hand  at  the 
guns.  Stone  after  stone  was  falling  from  the  forti 
fications  of  the  enemy,  and  finally  it  all  crumbled  to 
the  ground.  South  Carolina  was  humbled.  Its 
bold  defender  was  routed,  and  still  the  immortal  Web 
ster  poured  forth  his  missiles  of  eloquence  and  logic 
till  no  doubt  South  Carolina  and  its  chivalrous  de 
fender  secretly  plead  for  mercy.  Yet  he  would  not 
stop.  His  great  heart  was  full,  and  it  must  out. 
And  on  he  went,  and  still  he  thundered  until  the 
enemy's  works  were  a  mass  of  ruins,  and  victory  com 
plete.  He  buried  South  Carolina  so  low  that  she  was 
fit  for  naught  but  treason.  She  never  can  be  resur- 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        57 

rected.  The  men  of  the  old  Bay  State  shed  tears 
like  girls;  and  as  I  stood  in  the  gallery  where  they 
stood  methinks  I  could  hear  the  echo  of  those  words, 
'Liberty  and  union,  now  and  forever,  one  and  insep 
arable.' 

"But  he  has  passed  away, — peace  to  his  ashes.  I 
could  not  but  remember,  too,  as  I  was  hearing  Sumner 
speak,  the  battle  he  fought,  the  honors  he  received, 
and  the  victory  he  won.  He,  too,  was  fighting 
against  this  same  power  which  is  now  fighting 
us  in  the  field.  They  were  then  striving  to  fasten 
the  bloody  fangs  of  slavery  upon  that  infant  State 
of  Kansas,  and  Sumner  sprang  to  her  side,  and 
raised  her  from  its  hateful  embrace.  He  baffled  the 
insolent  foe.  To  meet  his  logic  with  logic  was  simply 
impossible.  Error  might  as  well  think  of  conquering 
truth.  The  bludgeon  was  called  in,  the  argument  of 
tyrants.  Here  the  first  blood  of  this  Rebellion  was 
shed,  and  for  the  second  time  treason  was  routed. 
The  Southerner  became  convinced  that  to  fight  battles 
in  our  legislative  halls  was  sure  defeat,  and  that  error 
could  never  conquer  truth,  except  perchance  with  the 
sword.  And  they  will  learn  ere  long  that  even  this 
bloody  weapon  is  impotent  to  stay  the  onward  march 
of  liberty  and  humanity." 

Creased  with  the  folds  of  over  fifty  years,  the  ink 
faded,  and  the  writing  in  some  places  made  illegible 


58  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

by  a  fire  from  which  they  were  at  one  time  rescued, 
nearly  a  hundred  letters  still  exist  which  passed 
between  the  youthful  captain  at  the  front  and  his  wife 
at  home, — the  Jennie  of  his  Madison  Seminary  days, 
whose  estimate  of  her  prospective  husband  we  have 
already  read.  The  "giant  intellect  which  threatens 
some  future  day  to  make  the  world  tremble"  she  still 
recognizes,  for  she  writes  him  (October  28,  1862) : 
"My  present  would  indeed  be  a  dreary  desert  were  it 
not  for  the  bright,  cheerful  spots  your  letters  mark. 
They  in  a  measure  compensate  for  the  absence  of  your 
own  loved  self.  I  don't  believe  any  one  ever  wrote 
such  good  letters  as  you  do.  I  am  sure  I  never  read 
any  that  were  half  equal  to  them." 

They  are,  indeed,  remarkable  documents,  filled 
with  graphic  descriptions  of  camp  and  field,  analyti 
cal  comments  upon  the  various  movements  of  the 
Army  and  its  commanders,  burning  hatred  of  the 
"traitors"  which  required  years  to  appease,  lofty  loy 
alty  to  the  cause  of  the  Union,  and  with  it  all  a  ten 
derness  toward  the  little  woman  he  has  left  behind 
which  is  humanly  practical  in  its  expression.  These 
letters  require  little  explanatory  comment,  but  tell 
their  own  story  of  the  relations  which  existed  between 
this  soldier-husband  in  his  early  twenties  and  the 
beloved  wife  and  little  daughter  left  behind. 

Their  chief  interest,  however,  lies  not  in  their  value 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        59 

as  contributions  to  the  literature  of  the  Civil  War, 
but  rather  as  human  documents  portraying  an  unusual 
personality.  The  departure  of  the  youthful  husband 
to  the  front  was  a  tragedy  to  Jennie,  but  to  him  it  was 
the  event  of  his  life.  For  nearly  ten  years  he  had 
made  the  ideals  of  the  Republican  Party  his  bone  and 
sinew;  he  had  expounded  them  on  every  possible 
occasion,  he  had  lived  them  every  moment  of  his 
existence.  With  the  call  to  arms  came  the  first 
opportunity  for  tangible  personal  expression.  The 
onward  march  of  the  Crusaders  had  begun!  Aside 
from  this,  these  letters  show  the  boyish  enjoyment  of 
the  novel  experiences  which  came  with  the  enlarged 
horizon.  He  omits  no  detail  in  the  description  of  his 
camp  and  camp-life;  he  bursts  into  eloquent  and 
poetical  diction  on  the  shores  of  the  James;  he  lashes 
the  "traitors"  with  a  fury  which  represents  his  years 
of  cumulative  loyalty  to  his  cause;  he  shows  his  youth 
in  the  bubbling  joy  of  administering  the  oath  to  the 
sullen  Southerners  while  performing  his  duties  as 
Provost  Marshal.  The  early  opportunity  given  him 
to  display  his  courage  under  fire  demonstrates  the 
sincerity  of  his  devotion  to  his  principles,  but  the  fact 
remains  that,  despite  the  dangers  and  the  hardships, 
Burrows'  army  experiences  filled  him  with  a  keen 
enjoyment  entirely  unappreciated  by  the  sympathetic 
and  suffering  wife  who  kept  her  lonely  vigil  at  home. 


60  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

Let  us  read  some  fragments  from  her  letters,  written 
with  fear  gripping  at  her  heart,  and  with  dread  uncer 
tainty  adding  to  her  terrors.  Here  we  shall  find 
patriotism  sadly  mixed  with  love  and  anxiety  for  her 
personal  hero.  The  lofty  sentiments,  the  outbursts 
of  loyalty,  the  poetic  communions  which  mark  the 
letters  of  the  Doer  are  conspicuous  by  their  absence 
in  those  of  the  Waiting  One,  yet  who  shall  say  that 
her  role  did  not  require  equal  courage  and  the  same 
sublime  self-sacrifice ! 

"Tuesday,  October  28,  1862 

"I  wish  I  could  make  my  letters  to  you  interesting. 
But  there  doesn't  anything  happen  here  worthy  of 
note.  There  is  nothing  thought  or  talked  of  except 
war,  and  it  is  like  switching  off  the  track  to  write 
about  anything  else.  'Where  thy  treasure  is,  there 
will  thy  heart  be  also.'  At  the  present  time,  my 
treasure  is  in  the  army,  and  of  course  my  thoughts 
tend  in  that  direction.  I  learned  by  today's  paper 
that  a  forward  movement  of  the  entire  Army  of  the 
Potomac  is  contemplated.  It  is  what  the  people  in 
general,  and  Horace  Greeley  in  particular,  have  been 
clamoring  for,  and  I  suppose  it  is  all  right;  but  I 
tremble  when  I  think  of  the  terrible  sacrifice  of  life 
that  must  follow.  This  Rebellion  has  attained  to 
such  gigantic  growth  that  rapid  and  energetic  action 
is  necessary  to  stay  it.  As  you  say,  the  sooner  it  is 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        61 

crushed  the  better  for  the  Nation.  I  fear  that  we  are 
on  the  eve  of  another  murderous  and  closely-con 
tested  conflict.  The  prophecy  borne  of  the  public 
mind  is  that  we  shall  be  victorious,  and  this  war 
thereby  will  be  sooner  terminated.  But  you  may 
fall,  and  I — 0  Father  pity  and  spare  me.  .  .  . 

"Your  faith  that  you  will  return  inspires  me  with 
confidence.  Caesar,  if  you  do  come  home  (and  I 
believe  you  will)  the  dark  days  will  serve  to  make 
the  future  so  much  brighter.  If  earnest  prayer  will 
save  you,  then  shall  I  see  you  again.  I  hope  and 
trust.  .  .  .  You  have  acted  a  noble  part  and  I  am 
proud  of  you  .  .  .  and  sister  Meda  has  perfect  con 
fidence  that  you  will  come  back.  She  thinks  you 
have  a  work  to  do  and  will  be  spared  to  accomplish 
it.  ... 

"Caesar,  how  sorry  I  felt  for  you  when  I  read  about 
your  building  a  chimney  and  then  it  smoked.  You 
may  believe  that  I  had  one  good  cry  over  your  hard 
ships.  .  .  . 

"One  night,  just  before  going  to  bed,  I  asked 
little  Meda  if  she  didn't  want  to  look  at  Papa's  like 
ness.  She  turned  her  little  sad  face  toward  me  and 
said,  'No,  Mamma,  for  it  will  make  me  cry  if  I  do. 
It  almost  makes  me  cry  to  think  of  him.'  She  con 
tinues  to  pray  for  you  every  night.  It  would  make 
you  laugh  to  hear  her  give  the  Lord  instructions  for 


62  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

your  benefit.  She  has  perfect  faith  that  her  little 
pleadings  will  save  you.  Heaven  grant  that  they 
may!" 

"Sabbath  Eve,  November  2,  1862 

"Do  you  ever  think  what  my  feelings  must  be  when 
I  realize  the  hardships  that  you  are  constantly  endur 
ing,  and  know  that  you  are  marching  on  a  relentless 
foe,  and  think  that  perhaps  you  are  already  suffering 
on  the  field  of  strife  with  no  one  to  care  for  or  relieve 
you.  Oh,  the  thought  is  distracting!  How  will 
ingly  would  I  help  bear  the  hardships  and  brave  the 
dangers  with  you  if  I  only  had  the  privilege !  All  I 
can  do  is  to  hope  and  pray  for  you.  .  .  . 

"If  this  war  could  end  and  you  come  home  I  know 
I  should  be  the  happiest  person  that  ever  lived. 
Others  may  enjoy  and  appreciate  the  coming  of  their 
husbands,  but  I  do  not  believe  any  one  would  feel 
so  supremely  blessed  as  I  should.  While  you  are  no 
bly  battling  in  defence  of  our  injured  country  I 
will  earnestly  pray  the  Father  to  spare  and  protect 
you." 

"Wednesday,  November  5,  1869 

"You  are  occupying  dangerous  ground,  and  my 
anxiety  for  you  is  most  intense.  I  don't  see  what 
keeps  you  from  being  sick.  I  should  think  you 
would  be  completely  worn  out.  My  very  heart  aches 
for  you.  You  tell  me  not  to  worry  about  you.  I 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        63 

wish  you  also  would  tell  me  how  I  can  help  it.  When 
I  know  that  you  are  suffering  I  must  suffer  too.  My 
fears  for  your  safety  tell  me  that  you  are  dearer  than 
my  own  life.  ...  I  am  going  to  coax  you  to  resign 
before  long  if  I  can.  I  feel  a  kind  of  confidence  that 
you  will  certainly  come  home.  I  wish  it  were  possi 
ble  for  you  to  come  home  before  another  battle  is 
fought.  But  I  know  your  brave  spirit  too  well.  It 
is  useless  for  me  to  ask  you  to  leave  your  post  while 
danger  is  so  near.  But  do  not  be  reckless  of  your 
precious  life.  I  do  not  ask  you  to  shirk  your  duty, 
only  just  be  as  careful  as  you  can  for  my  sake  as  well 
as  your  own.  .  .  . 

"The  thought  that  you  must  engage  in  another 
murderous  conflict  makes  me  perfectly  wretched,  but 
I  will  not  worry  you  with  my  own  sad  feelings ;  you 
have  enough  to  endure.  I  can  only  pray  for  you  and 
wait  the  result.  You  do  not  know  how  thankful  I 
am  that  you  have  confidence  in  and  rely  upon  Divine 
aid  ...  each  day  is  an  age  to  me.  .  .  .  When  you 
are  lonely,  think  of  this,  that  you  are  occupying  my 
entire  thoughts." 

"Friday,  November  14,  1862 

"I  do  not  even  dare  to  think  of  the  coming  conflict 
— what  shall  I  do  when  it  is  a  present  reality?  It 
may  bring  death  to  mine  and  me.  .  .  .  How  glad  I 
am  that  you  have  'drafted'  you  a  horse.  Meda  says, 


64  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

'Now  I  wish  I  had  gone  to  war  with  Papa,  for  I  know 
he  would  let  me  ride  on  behind  him.'  .  .  . 

"How  I  love  to  think  about  your  coming  home. 
Heaven  grant  that  the  bright,  joyful  hope  may  not 
prove  an  illusion.  .  .  .  When  you  think  about  going 
to  another  engagement  haven't  you  any  fears  as  to  the 
result  to  yourself?  If  prayers  will  save  you  then 
you  will  be  preserved;  but  others  have  been  prayed 
for  and  still  have  been  sacrificed.  But  I  will 
hope.  .  .  . 

"I  did  not  finish  my  letter  yesterday.  I  got  to 
thinking  about  our  National  affairs  and  of  the  danger 
that  menaces  you  at  every  step,  and  I  could  not 
write.  .  .  . 

"When  you  went  away  we  were  in  doubt  respecting 
Lottie's  fate.  The  doubt  has  given  way  to  a  dead 
certainty.  Lottie's  discharge  has  been  signed  by  a 
higher  authority  than  earth  can  produce.  ...  I 
need  your  sympathy  and  I  know  I  have  it.  ...  Dear 
as  that  brother  was  to  me,  my  grief  is  not  to  be  com 
pared  with  what  it  would  be  if  you  had  fallen  instead. 
May  kind  Heaven  spare  me  a  second  bereavement. 
.  .  .  Good  bye,  my  dear.  Oh,  how  cruel  those 
words  sound!" 

"Sabbath  Day,  November  16,  1862 

"You  speak  of  our  Army  going  to  Richmond. 
Before  Richmond  is  reduced  thousands  of  loyal, 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        65 

precious  lives  must  be  yielded  up.  Although  it  is 
said,  as  soon  as  the  Democrats  come  into  power,  that 
this  fearful  contest  will  be  ended  by  a  compromise. 
I  know  what  you  would  say  to  this,  but,  Caesar  dear, 
if  anything  like  an  honorable  compromise  could  be 
effected  wouldn't  it  be  better  than  to  continue  this 
wholesale  slaughter?  I  know  you  will  say  that  an 
honorable  compromise  is  impossible  at  this  stage  of 
the  issue.  I  am  convinced  that  neither  the  Govern 
ment  nor  the  Rebels  will  yield  so  long  as  a  remnant 
of  our  opposing  armies  remains.  I  cannot  see  where 
the  end  will  be.  As  you  say,  'Annihilation  to  the 
South.'  I  endorse  a  hearty  amen  to  that  proposition, 
but  can  we  carry  it  out?  With  so  many  despicable 
Northern  traitors  and  Rebel  sympathizers  among  us 
I  fear  we  cannot  do  it.  Heaven  knows  I  will  be  glad 
to  see  the  sun  go  down  for  the  last  time  on  every 
traitor.  There  are  a  good  many  even  here  on  the 
Reserve  who  claim  to  be  good  Unionists,  but  whose 
acts  show  them  to  be  strong  pro-slavery,  anti- Admin 
istration,  anti-war  men.  But  you  know  all  this  as 
well  as  I.  Oh,  how  I  wish  it  was  rightly  ended! 
But  we  must  wait.  This  wearing  suspense  must  be 
endured.  .  .  .  Yours  for  union  and  reunion, 

"JENNIE." 


66  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

Whether  because  of  the  prayers  of  the  devoted  wife 
or  by  virtue  of  the  conviction  of  the  admiring  sister 
that  he  would  be  preserved  for  a  higher  destiny,  or 
both,  Burrows  had  passed  through  the  perils  of  actual 
engagement  at  South  Mountain,  Antietam,  and  Fred- 
ericksburg,  with  nothing  more  serious  than  exhaus 
tion.  After  his  release  from  Seminary  Hospital,  he 
returned  to  his  regiment  at  Newport  News,  where  he 
settled  down  for  an  extended  period.  His  letters  at 
this  time  give  a  detailed  description  of  camp  and 
camp  life,  and  also  portray  his  mental  attitude.  An 
interesting  feature  throughout  is  the  complete  ab 
sence  of  any  reference  to  his  sufferings  or  privations, 
yet  the  records  of  the  Seventeenth  Michigan  bear 
testimony  to  the  presence  of  both.  The  soldier-hus 
band  emphasizes  the  bright  spots  only, — and  for 
obvious  reasons: 

February  28,  1863 

We  reached  Fort  Monroe  about  seven  in  the  morn 
ing.  Here  we  were  compelled  to  remain  until  ten 
before  a  boat  would  leave  for  Newport  News,  which 
is  some  eight  miles  distant  by  water.  I  was  glad 
that  it  happened  so,  for  it  gave  me  an  opportunity  to 
visit  the  Fort.  There  is  nothing  here  but  war  imple 
ments.  There  are  plenty  of  buildings,  but  they  are 
all  connected  with  the  War  Department.  The  Fort 
comprises  eighty  acres,  and  is  said  to  be  the  strongest. 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        67 

Its  walls  of  stone  and  frowning  guns  seem  to  defy  an 
attack.  The  inside  of  the  Fort  is  laid  out  in  walks, 
and  shade  trees  give  it  a  beauty  and  a  pleasantness 
which  in  the  Summer  season  must  be  truly  delightful. 
A  little  distance  from  the  Fort  lay  several  war  vessels 
and  a  monitor.  There  are  stores  and  groceries  here, 
and  newspapers,  and,  in  fact,  Fort  Monroe  and  its 
surroundings  present  the  appearance  of  a  busy  little 
town.  There  was  a  magnificent  hotel  here,  but  since 
this  war  it  has  been  torn  down,  as  it  obstructed  the 
view  from  the  Fort  up  the  James  River.  ...  At  ten 
we  took  the  boat  for  Newport  News.  Here  we  could 
see  the  wreck  of  the  Congress  and  the  Cumber 
land.,  which  latter  boat  went  down  with  one  hun 
dred  and  fifty  men.  Norfolk  is  but  a  short  distance 
from  here.  Here  at  Newport  News  the  Merrimac 
coolly  destroyed  our  boats,  and  rode  king  of  the  seas. 
But  that  night  the  Monitor  came,  and  after  hours  of 
hard  fighting  drove  the  Merrimac  tack,  wounded  and 
dying,  and  saved  Fortress  Monroe  and  the  Nation. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  timely  arrival  of  the  Monitor 
no  doubt  but  the  Merrimac  would  have  entered  Balti 
more  or  Washington.  .  .  . 

The  camping  ground  of  the  Corps  is  the  most  beau 
tiful  I  ever  beheld.  Each  regiment  seems  to  strive 
to  excel  its  neighbor  in  decorating  its  grounds.  Our 
camp  is  called  "Camp  Withington."  It  is  laid  out 


68  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

in  regular  streets.  The  streets  are  graded  and  swept 
daily,  so  that  the  camp  presents  the  appearance  of  a 
nice  city.  The  men  and  officers  have  been  supplied 
with  new  tents,  which  are  large  and  comfortable. 
Shelter  tents  are  "played  out."  The  boys  have  set 
out  large  evergreen  trees  through  the  streets,  and  in 
front  of  the  officers'  tents  and  in  front  of  their  own 
tents,  so  that  our  grounds  look  like  a  forest,  and  the 
clean  white  tent  contrasts  beautifully  with  the  deep 
green  of  the  pine.  .  .  . 

I  arrived  at  my  command  a  little  after  noon,  and  I 
need  not  tell  you  of  the  warm  greetings  I  met.  All 
seemed  glad  to  see  me.  You  know  that  when  I  left 
the  army  several  officers  were  in  one  tent.  Now  I 
have  a  tent  of  my  own,  clean  and  new.  After  seeing 
the  Colonel,  and  getting  mustered,  I  thought  I  would 
put  up  my  tent.  The  boys  did  it  for  me,  and  made 
me  a  nice  bunk  and  table,  and  it  would  do  your  soul 
good  to  look  in  here  now  and  see  me  sitting  in  a  chair 
which  I  bought  in  Cleveland,  before  a  table  covered 
with  books,  beside  a  bed  raised  up,  made  of  pine 
boughs.  My  trappings  are  hung  up  about  my  tent, 
so  in  fact  it  looks  quite  like  home,  with  the  exception 
of  two  little  articles, — yourself  and  Meda.  Will  you 
furnish  me  with  these?  I  have  a  thick  double  blan 
ket  to  put  under  me  and  a  comfortable  to  put  over  me. 
Such  is  our  camp.  As  to  eating,  we  have  oysters  by 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        69 

the  pailful,  as  we  are  not  more  than  twenty  rods  from 
the  water,  soft  bread,  ham,  coffee,  and  everything 
almost,  even  good  potatoes.  I  have  sent  for  a  camp 
stove,  and  then  my  furniture  will  be  complete.  No 
regiment  could  be  pleasanter  situated. 

CAMP  WITHINGTON,  NEWPORT  NEWS, 

Monday  Eve,  March  2,  1863 

Tonight  the  moon  is  throwing  its  mellow  light  over 
sleeping  Nature,  and  I  have  been  walking  in  front  of 
my  tent,  ruminating  upon  the  past,  and  building 
hopes  for  the  future.  Could  bright  fancies  of  the 
mind  be  woven  into  realities  how  many  Edens  would 
spring  into  happy  being!  Better  that  it  is  not 
granted  us  though,  for  if  it  were  true  we  might  not 
look  higher.  But  I  will  shut  out  the  world,  and 
breathe  a  prayer  for  you  and  ours.  .  .  . 

Tuesday  Evening,  March  3,  1863 

The  evenings  now  are  delightful,  and  it  is  inexpres 
sible  joy  to  wander  along  the  shores  of  the  beautiful 
and  classic  James.  Upon  its  bosom  once  rode  the 
gem  of  empire;  now  its  waters  are  ruffled  by  the  black 
monitors  of  war,  struggling  for  that  empire's  perpe 
tuity.  What  a  place  for  thought  is  the  bank  of  some 
mighty  water!  As  I  stood  tonight,  and  beheld  in  the 
far  distance  some  moonlit  wave  nearing  the  shore, 
until  at  length  it  perished  beneath  the  waters,  I 
thought  how  similar  were  earth's  anticipated  joys. 


70  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

We  look  out  upon  the  broad  sea  of  life,  and  watch 
eagerly  for  the  approach  of  some  anticipated  joy,  but 
ere  it  reaches  us  some  cruel  wave  of  fate  buries  it 
beneath  its  dark  water.  But  it  is  not  always  thus. 

NEWPORT  NEWS,  VIRGINIA, 
Tuesday,  March  10,  1863 

You  say  people  are  aroused  a  little  over  the  Con 
scription  Bill,  and,  Jennie,  you  did  get  off  a  little 
patriotism,  didn't  you?  Ha! -ha!  Aren't  you  glad 
now  that  your  "hubby"  is  in  the  war?  You  couldn't 
crow  so  if  your  "hubby"  was  one  of  the  shirks,  could 
you?  He  who  is  able  to  strike  one  blow  and  remains 
at  home,  in  times  like  these,  is  a  traitor  to  his  coun 
try,  to  his  family,  and  to  his  God.  What  a  proud 
thing  it  is  to  be  drafted  in  this  war!  I  had  rather  die 
than  be  dragged  up  to  my  duty  and  whipped  to  per 
form  it !  ... 

On  this  same  date,  which  was  before  the  transferal 
of  his  regiment  to  the  Western  Army,  Burrows  wrote 
to  one  of  the  Kalamazoo  papers: 

"Much  is  said  at  home  about  the  demoralization  of 
the  army,  and  the  daily  papers,  circulated  through  our 
camps,  are  filled  with  positive  assertions  that  the  army 
has  become  a  lawless  mob.  Never  was  a  greater 
falsehood  written ;  and  it  is  well  known  where  it  has 
its  origin.  It  springs  from  the  poisoned  tongue  of 
'Copperheads,'  who  have  done  nothing  but  hiss  and 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        71 

sting  from  the  beginning  of  this  bloody  rebellion. 
They  have  opposed  every  measure  of  the  Administra 
tion  that  aimed  a  blow  at  traitors.  The  Confiscation 
Act  was  unconstitutional;  the  Emancipation  Procla 
mation  was  barbarous ;  the  suspension  of  the  'habeas 
corpus'  was  tyrannical;  and  our  defeats  have  been 
followed  with  utter  demoralization.  Strange  how 
Party  pride  and  Party  prejudice  will  blind  the  human 
heart!  Strange  that  there  are  those  at  the  North, 
reared  into  manhood  under  the  benign  influence  of  a 
free  Government,  who  would  destroy  that  Govern 
ment  to  satisfy  Party  animosity.  I  should  think  that 
in  their  waking  hours,  and  in  their  hideous  dreams, 
the  bleeding  form  of  a  betrayed  Republic  would  rise 
before  them  and  shout  in  their  ears,  'Guilty!  guilty!' 
But  no;  they  are  deaf  to  the  cries  of  their  country. 
Their  Party  is  their  idol.  To  it  they  bow  down  in 
blind  adoration,  forgetting  their  children,  their  coun 
try,  and  their  God.  But  we  will  tell  them  this,  that 
the  Republic  will  live  in  spite  of  them.  That  the 
soldier  is  not  demoralized.  That  the  Confiscation 
Act  and  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  are  stars  of 
hope  by  which  we  draw  our  swords  to  strike  for  Lib 
erty  and  Union!  That  he  who  dares  breathe  the 
word  'Compromise9  upon  any  other  terms  than  uncon 
ditional  submission  to  the  National  Government  is  a 
traitor  doubly  damned.  The  graves  of  our  murdered 


72  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

brothers  cry  out  against  it.     We  will  have  but  one 
country,  one  flag,  one  common  Union!" 

Again  writing  to  his  wife,  Burrows  pays  his  re 
spects  to  the  Pacifists  of  1863: 

NEWPORT  NEWS,  VIRGINIA, 
Thursday,  March  12,  1863 

The  Copperheads  are  quiet  now,  but  they  are  only 
winding  themselves  up  for  a  more  desperate  assault 
the  coming  Fall.  Peace  is  their  motto.  Soon  they 
will  throw  their  foul  banner  to  the  breeze,  and  I  fear 
that  thousands  of  the  sick-hearted  at  the  North  will 
take  shelter  underneath  its  enticing  shadow.  But 
woe  betide  us  when  we  shall  accept  peace  based  upon 
any  other  foundation  than  reconstruction  and  re 
union  !  If  compromise  is  effected  by  giving  to  slav 
ery  more  territory,  we  shall  cover  ourselves  with  dis 
honor  and  disgrace,  and  leave  our  children  a  legacy 
of  shame,  and  when  we  have  done  all  this  the  war  is 
not  over.  Slavery  and  freedom  will  war  with  each 
other  till  one  is  conquered  and  annihilated.  It  is  for 
the  people  of  the  North  to  say  which  it  shall  be.  God 
grant  that  American  liberty  shall  not  find  its  grave 
here!  Here  it  was  born,  and  here  let  it  grow  and 
prosper  through  all  time.  ... 

The  dramatic  entrance  by  which  the  Seventeenth 
Michigan  became  a  part  of  the  Union  forces  made  life 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        73 

at  Newport  News  an  anti-climax.  With  nothing  be 
yond  the  daily  routine  to  record,  Burrows'  letters 
home  are  filled  with  introspection  and  ruminations 
not  ordinarily  associated  with  the  soldier's  life: 

NEWPORT  NEWS,  VIRGINIA, 
Saturday,  March  14,  1863 

Home  letters  are  camp  joys.  They  lift  the  dark 
curtain  of  the  present,  and  point  us  to  our  future 
Eden.  Glad  reminders  of  what  we  were,  and  what 
we  may  yet  be  when  the  bloody  tide  of  war  shall  ebb, 
and  the  almighty  fiat  shall  be  stamped  upon  it! 
Peace  be  still !  Happy,  happy  time !  And  yet  how 
many  bright  dreams,  how  many  cherished  hopes  will 
lie  buried  beneath  that  silent  flood!  War!  the 
maniac's  weapon,  the  mighty  power  that  leads  truant 
reason  back  to  its  deserted  throne,  and  reinstates  it 
there,  all  powerful  and  omnipotent.  But  I  trust  this 
war  is  nearly  closed,  that  history  is  writing  the  last 
act  of  this  bloody  tragedy.  And  when  the  curtain 
shuts  out  the  last  scene,  may  we  turn  from  this  sick 
ening  sight,  a  wiser,  freer,  and  nobler  people,  with 
liberty  triumphant  and  tyranny  dethroned.  But 
until  this  glorious  consummation  let  the  tide  roll  on, 
bloody  and  remorseless,  till  treason  is  engulfed  be 
neath  its  gurgling  water,  and  the  proud  Ship  of  State, 
freighted  with  the  world's  idle  hope,  shall  ride  tri 
umphant  into  the  harbor  of  peace. 


74  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

NEWPORT  NEWS,  VIRGINIA, 
Wednesday  Evening,  March  18,  1863 

When  I  think  of  the  desolation  and  havoc  this  war 
is  making,  when  I  in  fancy  follow  in  its  bloody  wake 
and  gather  up  the  shattered  hopes  and  blighted  pros 
pects  of  a  once  happy  people,  I  cannot  but  wonder 
for  a  moment  why  a  just  and  outraged  God  does  not 
hurl  thunderbolts  of  destruction  upon  the  head  of 
every  guilty  traitor,  and  blast  that  hideous  embryo  of 
despotic  empire.  Great  God!  how  long  must  we 
suffer?  How  long  must  the  thunders  of  war  break 
the  quiet  of  this  people!  Yet  it  is  just.  Well  did 
Jefferson  say,  "I  tremble  for  my  country  when  I 
remember  that  God  is  just."  Oh,  Jennie,  how  I  hate 
a  traitor!  Hate  is  a  tame  word, — I  loathe  them! 
And  while  I  cling  to  my  home  as  the  Eden  of  earth,  I 
cannot  bear  the  thought  of  quitting  the  field  until 
every  traitor  shall  bite  the  dust,  or  bow  in  humble 
submission  to  the  flag  of  my  country.  Dear  old 
emblem  of  Liberty,  how  I  love  you!  Must  your 
bright  stars  go  down,  must  your  clear  blue  be 
shrouded  in  darkness?  Never,  so  long  as  there  is  an 
arm  to  strike!  Never  did  I  realize  so  fully  the  awful 
consequences  of  this  struggle.  We  must  either  be 
conquered  or  conquer.  If  we  fail — heavens,  what  a 
future!  Liberty  dead,  freedom  buried,  and  the 
world's  last  hope  extinguished !  Then  the  knee  must 


1863]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        75 

learn  to  bow  to  every  tyrant's  nod,  and  our  own  chil 
dren  shriek  beneath  the  lash  of  remorseless  nobility. 
What  then  will  be  our  homes  and  their  joys? 
Blighted  all.  But  this  must  not,  cannot,  shall  not  be. 
Treason  shall  die.  The  flag  of  our  country  shall 
again  wave  over  every  foot  of  American  soil,  and  her 
stars  shall  mount  undimmed  into  her  cloudless  blue. 
Traitors  shall  reverence  it,  treason  shall  cower  be 
neath  it  and  tremble  in  its  holy  presence,  for  it  is  our 
flag,  God's,  and  Liberty's. 

I  know  how  you  and  those  North  suffer  in  our 
absence,  yet  you  must  all  be  stout-hearted  in  these 
times,  and  when  we  have  conquered  we  will  return  to 
you  to  enjoy  with  you  the  peace  we  have  purchased. 
Be  brave,  heroic,  and  true.  Mould  the  heart  of  man 
to  daring  deeds,  and  counsel  naught  but  honor. 
Remember  that  these  are  times  that  try  men's  souls, 
and  that  the  result  of  this  contest  will  be  felt  to  the 
latest  generation.  Here  is  a  milestone  on  the  high 
way  of  empire.  Let  us  not  write  upon  it,  "Perished 
here."  All  the  nations  are  looking  toward  us;  Lib 
erty  lies  bleeding  at  our  feet,  and  cries  for  help. 
Oppressed  families  are  stretching  their  bleeding  hands 
toward  us,  and  imploring  our  aid.  May  we  strike  till 
Liberty's  wounds  are  bound  up,  and  Humanity  disen 
thralled.  Compromise?  Never!  Never  surrender 
as  long  as  one  drop  of  blood  warms  the  patriotic 


76  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1862 

heart.  If  we  are  true  to  our  duty,  true  to  ourselves, 
and  true  to  posterity  we  will  come  out  of  this  struggle 
gloriously  triumphant,  and  transmit  to  our  children 
a  country  redeemed  and  a  liberty  unfettered.  .  .  . 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  SOLDIER-HUSBAND  [continued].     1863-1864 

THE  Seventeenth  was  in  Virginia  and  Maryland 
until  March,  1863,  when  it  was  transported, 
with  the  Ninth  Corps,  to  Louisville,  Kentucky.  It 
was  stationed  in  various  parts  of  the  State  until 
ordered  to  join  General  Grant,  then  at  Vicksburg, 
Mississippi.  Captain  Burrows  records  some  of  his 
experiences  while  in  Louisville  in  letters  to  his  wife: 

UXITED  STATES  HOTEL, 
LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY,  March  30,  1863 

It  would  do  your  soul  good  to  visit  this  State  in 
these  times.  You  find  no  neutral  men  or  women. 
The  Union  people  are  warm,  true  friends,  and  you 
cannot  be  with  them  but  a  moment  before  you  seem 
to  have  known  them  for  years.  While  marching  up 
town  on  our  arrival  I  met  a  lady  and  gentleman  who 
stopped  me.  Both  shook  hands  warmly,  welcomed 
us  to  the  State,  and  their  dark  Southern  eyes, 
moistened  with  tears,  told  of  the  noble,  true  spirit 
within.  .  .  . 

Two  of  the  most  prominent  ladies  at  the  supper 
were  Mrs.  Johnson  and  Mrs.  Haskin, — both  unflinch 
ingly  loyal  women.  They  asked  me  to  call  upon 

77 


y8  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

them  before  I  left  the  city.  .  .  .  Mrs.  Johnson  has 
spent  most  of  her  time  in  the  hospitals  of  the  city, 
and  was  at  the  battle  of  P.  Landing,  administering  to 
the  wounded  and  dying.  I  wish  you  could  see  her 
dark  eyes  flash  as  she  talks  of  this  Rebellion.  She  is 
surrounded  by  traitors,  and  yet  from  every  window 
in  her  house  waves  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  When 
Bragg  was  within  five  miles  of  the  city  and  demanding 
its  surrender,  and  thousands  of  families  were  moving 
across  the  river,  she  threw  our  flag  from  every  window, 
and  said  that  she  would  not  desert  it, — never !  Gen 
eral  Nelson  rode  by  the  house  and  complimented  her 
upon  her  bravery.  Mrs.  Haskin  is  Mrs.  Johnson's 
daughter,  and  she  and  her  husband  were  born  there, 
and  are  both  unflinching  in  their  loyalty.  I  should 
like  to  have  him  talk  with  some  of  our  Copperheads 
at  the  North.  Oh!  how  he  despises  them!  He  is  a 
slaveholder,  but  says  that  slavery  is  the  cause  of  this 
trouble,  and  that  the  war  must  not  end  till  the  last 
vestige  of  it  is  swept  from  the  land.  He  says  that  if 
the  South  succeed,  and  Kentucky  links  her  destiny 
with  her,  he  will  abandon  his  State.  .  .  . 

How  pleasant  it  is  for  the  soldier  to  find  such  warm 
greetings  in  a  traitor's  land!  But  do  not  think  that 
all  the  people  are  so.  In  walking  along  the  streets 
we  could  easily  tell  the  loyal  people.  The  "Reb" 
ladies  are  the  meanest  creatures  I  ever  saw.  We 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        79 

would  meet  them,  and  they  would  turn  out  as  far  as 
the  sidewalk  would  allow,  and  even  hold  up  their 
dresses,  as  if  passing  something  too  foul  to  touch. 
Miserable  fools!  I  wonder  if  they  thought  it 
off  ended  us!  We  met  four  or  five  little  girls,  and 
they  turned  up  their  noses,  and  Captain  Tyler 
remarked,  "You  are  a  little  Reb,"  when  the  whole 
group  joined  in  saying,  "We  are  Rebels  too." 

BARDSTOWN,  KENTUCKY, 
April  1,  1863 

I  wish  we  had  more  Butlers.  But  it  would  do  us  no 
good  if  we  had,  for  our  weak-kneed  Administration 
would  lay  them  on  the  shelf  at  the  behest  of  every  con 
servative  demagogue.  The  President  knows  that 
Jeff  Davis  and  his  clique  don't  like  Butler,  and  to 
please  them  he  has  deprived  the  Nation  of  his  serv 
ices!  Out  with  such  a  milk-and-water  man!  But 
let  it  work.  All  may  be  well  yet.  .  .  . 

And  all  was  yet  to  be  well.  The  boy-Captain, 
heart-broken  over  the  scenes  of  death  and  desolation, 
could  not  see  it,  but  even  with  his  criticism  he  had 
faith  to  believe  it.  The  little  space  of  two  years  gave 
him  the  power  to  understand  the  quiet  but  far-seeing, 
long-suffering  Lincoln. 

LEBANON,  KENTUCKY, 
Sabbath  Eve,  April  5,  1863 

When  we  entered  this  place  we  took  possession  of 
the  printing  press,  and  tomorrow  we  strike  off  the  first 


8o  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

issue  of  the  "Union  Vidette,"  as  we  call  it.  I  will 
send  you  a  copy,  Jennie.  It  is  real  fun  to  soldier 
out  here  in  Kentucky,  because  the  people  are  divided 
and  so  earnest.  The  traitors  are  spunky  and  inso 
lent,  the  Union  people  warm  and  true.  .  .  . 

News  of  the  illness  of  his  little  daughter  brings  out 
an  expression  of  the  depth  of  his  devotion.  Even  the 
threatened  dissolution  of  the  Nation  is  forgotten  in  his 
anxiety  for  her  health  and  life: 

LEBANON-,  KENTUCKY, 
Wednesday,  April  8,  1863 

I  am  pained  that  our  little  darling  has  been  sick. 
Poor  thing!  Has  she  not  suffered  enough!  What 
crime  has  she  committed  that  she  must  thus  be  tor 
mented  even  in  infancy!  Pardon  that  thought,  that 
seems  to  reflect  upon  Him  who  orders  all  things  well. 
Oh !  Jennie,  take  good  care  of  her.  Do  not  suffer  a 
single  care  or  sorrow  to  ruffle  the  sunny  deep  of  her 
gentle  spirit.  Remember  a  father's  love  for  her,  how 
he  dotes  upon  her,  and  shapes  his  every  act  for  her 
future  good.  And  keep  her!  Oh,  Jennie,  what  a 
world  this  would  be  to  us  if  that  star  in  our  heaven 
should  go  down!  Heaven  spare  us  the  affliction! 
Jennie,  do  not  take  out  her  little  letters,  please.  I 
want  to  see  them.  Those  tracings  made  by  her  hand 
would  be  meaningless  to  others,  but  to  you  and  me 
they  have  a  language,  oh,  how  dear!  I  could  sit 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        81 

down  in  my  lonely  tent  and  read  her  letters  for  hours 
together.  Let  her  send  them,  please.  .  .  . 

It  is  difficult  for  the  present  generation  to  appre 
ciate  the  depth  of  the  hatred  which  entered  into  the 
struggle,  or  to  reconcile  the  expression  which  follows 
with  the  tender  words  which  precede.  Yet  these  are 
extracts  from  the  same  letter,  and  this  ghastly  wish 
is  written  by  a  man  who,  under  normal  circumstances, 
was  generous  and  forgiving: 

"A  rumor  is  prevalent  here  that  Charleston  is  taken. 
Glory  to  God!  I  hope  that  hell-hole  of  treason  is 
ours,  and  that  the  flag  of  our  country  waves  over  its 
ruins.  I  would  like  Byron's  dream  of  'Darkness' 
to  be  to  the  people  of  Charleston  a  bitter  reality,  'for 
they  truly  did  keep  in  that  city  a  mass  of  holy  things 
for  an  unholy  usage.'  Let  only  two  of  that  city 
survive,  and  let  them  be  enemies.  Let  them  rake  up 
with  their  skeleton  hands  the  dying  embers  of  their 
blighted  hopes,  behold  each  other's  hideous  aspect 
and  die !  How  I  would  like  to  be  in  Charleston,  and 
see  the  lackeys  bow  to  the  flag  they  once  would  spit 
upon!  This  Rebellion  is  dead!  Its  fall  is  sealed, 
and  the  men  who  instigated  it  will  'go  back  to  the 
foul  earth  from  whence  they  sprung,  upwept,  unhon- 
ored,  and  unsung.' ' 

Four  days  later  Captain  Burrows  receives  fuller 
news  from  home,  and  expresses  his  joy  over  his 


82  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

daughter's  convalescence.  In  the  same  letter  he 
bursts  into  a  patriotic  frenzy  which  today  seems  over 
wrought,  yet  in  the  light  of  his  later  services  to  the 
country  no  one  can  doubt  its  sincerity.  Those  were 
the  days  of  high-sounding  expressions,  and  what  Bur 
rows  writes  is  but  the  same  language  as  that  with  which 
he  later  swayed  his  audiences,  and  which  was  ac 
cepted  by  his  hearers  as  the  highest  form  of  oratory. 
It  was  what  Jennie  would  expect  from  her  hero,  and 
to  say  less  would  have  seemed  to  her  a  step  backwards 
in  what  she  had  learned  to  adore: 

CAMP  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  MICHIGAN  INFANTRY, 
LEBANON,  KENTUCKY,  Sabbath,  April  12,  1863 

Yesterday  we  received  our  back  mail,  and  it  was 
a  day  of  mingled  joy  and  sadness.  For  many  it 
brought  the  good  intelligence  of  the  health  and  hap 
piness  of  friends  and  kindred;  to  some  the  sad  tale  of 
sickness,  suffering,  and  death.  As  for  myself,  receiv 
ing  four  priceless  letters  from  you,  informing  me  of 
the  illness  and  recovery  of  our  darling  pet,  I  feel  like 
one  who  all  unconscious  treads  the  verge  of  some 
terrible  precipice,  and  wakes  to  see  the  yawning  gulf 
beneath,  the  danger  past,  and  thanks  his  God  that  he 
is  safe.  Oh!  had  she  died,  should  she  die,  while  I 
am  here  away  from  her,  my  own  unanchored  soul, 
rocked  and  lashed  by  the  wild  surges  of  despair, 
would  drift  to  ruin  and  death.  It  will  not,  can  not 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        83 

be!  Jennie,  I  need  not  tell  you  how  I  idolize  her. 
Search  your  own  heart,  and  measure  my  love.  She 
is  our  all,  our  only  one,  and  without  her  what  would 
that  home  be  to  which  we  are  looking,  and  for  which 
we  are  toiling  and  sacrificing?  A  blighted  Eden,  a 
garden  without  a  flower,  a  paradise  without  a  rose,  a 
Heaven  without  a  God.  .  .  . 

Jennie,  I  think  your  fears  are  too  great.  Should 
we  be  brought  face  to  face  with  our  hell-born  foes, 
fear  not  the  result,  for  the  God  of  justice  rides  on  the 
storm,  and  though  thousands  of  brave  and  manly 
hearts  should  perish  in  the  contest,  if  we  but  gain  the 
victory,  redeem  our  country,  and  reinstate  order  and 
peace,  the  sacrifice  though  costly  should  be  freely 
given.  Let  the  storm  rage,  let  the  earth  tremble 
beneath  the  leaden  tread  of  marshaling  hosts.  Let 
the  mountains  speak  the  echoes  of  our  cannon.  Let 
rivers  of  blood  roll  from  East  to  West,  from  North  to 
South,  until  our  land  shall  be  woven  with  arteries; 
let  carnage  and  devastation  sweep  over  the  land  in 
mad  revelry,  if  over  all  this  ruin  the  flag  of  our  coun 
try,  dear  emblem  of  Liberty,  can  float  in  triumph. 
Then  do  not  fear  for  me.  If  we  move  forward,  follow 
us  with  your  prayers,  and  in  the  hour  of  battle  the 
memory  of  you  and  ours  will  nerve  our  arms  and  bid 
us  "strike  until  the  last  armed  foe  expires"  .... 

You  have  spoken  in  several  of  your  letters  of  a 


84  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

letter  I  wrote  to  you  which  you  say  was  "rather 
extraordinary."  I  do  not  remember  it.  If  it  was 
burdened  with  patriotism,  it  was  only  the  out-breath 
ings  of  a  heart  wedded  to  country  and  liberty.  It 
must  have  been  written  at  one  of  those  moments  in 
my  life  when  I  was  aroused  to  the  consciousness  of 
the  times  in  which  we  live,  and  the  terrible  responsi 
bilities  devolving  upon  us.  A  Nation  is  ours  to 
preserve  or  to  destroy.  The  memories  of  the  past, 
the  hopes  of  the  present,  and  the  fond  anticipations 
of  the  future,  all  hang  breathless  upon  our  action. 
The  soul  is  weighed  down  under  this  load  of  respon 
sibility,  and  agonizes  to  think  that  it  is  doing  so  little. 
Show  me  the  star  of  duty,  and  I  will  follow  it  though 
I  perish.  I  know  not  whether  it  be  to  fight  the  armed 
traitor  in  the  field,  or  the  skulking  sneak  that  hides 
under  the  flag  he  is  too  cowardly  to  betray.  Oh,  how 
I  hate  the  traitor,  and  above  all  a  Northern  one,  who, 
with  no  excuse  but  Party  prejudice,  would  destroy  a 
Government  to  satisfy  Party  pride.  Oh !  you  miser 
able  offscourings  of  a  polluted  Party !  Language  is 
inadequate  to  portray  your  crimes.  History  can  but 
give  their  outline.  They  are  as  black  as  hell.  Your 
own  children  will  hate  you.  Your  kindred  will  for 
sake  you.  Traitors  in  arms  will  disown  you.  All 
posterity  will  curse  you.  Your  country  will  disin 
herit  you.  And  history  will  embalm  your  names  in 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        85 

eternal  infamy.     The  Tories  of  the  Revolution  were 
angels  by  the  side  of  you.   .  .  . 

Of  his  transfer  to  the  Western  Army,  Burrows 
writes  to  the  Kalamazoo  paper,  under  date  of  April 
22,  1863: 

"On  the  evening  of  the  l8th  of  last  month,  while 
at  Newport  News,  Va.,  we  received  orders  to  be  ready 
to  march  at  daylight  on  the  following  morning,  with 
four  days'  rations  and  sixty  rounds  of  cartridges. 
Such  preparations  were  decidedly  ominous,  and 
indicative  of  a  long  march,  perhaps  a  skirmish,  and 
gave  birth  to  a  thousand  surmises  and  as  many  vague 
and  groundless  rumors.  But  the  morning  dispelled 
all  doubts,  for  a  report  that  we  were  going  westward 
had  settled  down  into  a  well-grounded  belief,  and 
with  light  hearts  we  struck  tents,  slung  knapsacks, 
and  bade  'good  by'  to  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  But 
glad  as  we  were  to  link  our  destiny  with  the  victorious 
forces  of  the  West,  it  was,  nevertheless,  with  many 
feelings  of  regret  that  we  took  leave  of  an  army  which, 
however  much  it  may  have  suffered  from  the  treachery 
or  ambition  of  its  leaders,  is,  notwithstanding,  uncon 
querable  in  purpose  and  invincible  in  arms.  On  the 
morning  of  the  iQth,  the  First  and  and  Second 
Divisions  of  the  Ninth  Army  Corps  (the  Third 
Division  having  previously  been  ordered  to  Suffolk, 


86  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

Va.)  marched  to  the  landing,  and  took  transports  for 
Baltimore.  From  the  landing  could  be  distinctly 
seen  the  wrecks  of  the  Cumberland  and  Congress, 
which  resisted  the  approach  of  the  rebel  Merrimac 
when  our  Monitor  came  to  the  rescue,  and  drove  that 
monster  engine  of  treason  back  to  its  dark  moorings. 
"In  the  afternoon  we  weighed  anchor,  and  for  some 
reason  sailed  for  Norfolk,  where  we  were  compelled 
by  a  severe  storm  to  remain  nearly  twenty-four  hours. 
Curiosity  led  me  to  visit  the  city.  It  is  now  almost 
wholly  deserted,  its  places  of  business  are  closed,  its 
once  busy  mart  is  as  silent  as  the  grave,  and  as  I 
passed  along  its  narrow,  dirty  streets,  dimly  lighted 
by  a  few  flickering  lamps,  no  sound  fell  upon  the  ear 
but  the  hollow  echo  of  the  measured  tread  of  the 
sentinel  as  he  paced  his  lonely  beat.  On  the  IQth 
we  again  set  sail  for  Baltimore,  where  we  landed  on 
the  morning  of  the  22d.  Here,  for  the  first  time,  we 
received  positive  intelligence  of  our  destination ;  and 
when  it  was  announced  that  we  were  to  be  in  the 
Department  of  the  hero  of  the  Ninth  Army  Corps,  one 
wild  shout  of  exultation  burst  from  the  lips  of  that 
devoted  soldiery.  In  the  evening  we  again  took  up 
our  line  of  march,  or  rather  took  our  quarters  in  the 
cars,  and  rolled  on  toward  the  waters  of  the  Ohio. 
Our  trip  was  a  pleasant  one,  and  on  every  side  the 
eye  was  regaled  by  a  thousand  scenes,  new  to  us,  and 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        87 

full  of  interest. — Harper's  Ferry  was  a  point  of  uni 
versal  attraction.  Here  treason  and  loyalty  had 
struggled  in  deadly  conflict,  and  had  alternately  tri 
umphed.  Here,  too,  treachery  had  worked  its  dark 
and  damning  purpose  and  received  here  its  first  pun 
ishment.  Today  Harper's  Ferry  is  a  mass  of  ruins." 
Turning  again  to  his  home,  he  tells  of  his  sur 
roundings  in  his  new  camp,  emphasizing  the  comforts 
to  ease  the  anxiety: 

CAMP  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  MICHIGAN  INFANTRY, 
LEBANON,  KENTUCKY,  Sabbath  Eve,  April  19,  1863 

My  tent,  twelve  feet  square,  is  pitched  on  a  beau 
tiful  eminence  near  a  pleasant  wood  on  the  right,  a 
lofty  mountain  in  front,  and  the  quiet,  unattractive 
city  of  Lebanon  on  the  left  rear.  The  floor  of  my 
tent  is  of  God's  own  make,  and  therefore  quite  dur 
able.  I  am  seated  at  a  table  of  my  own  manufacture, 
on  the  right  of  which  is  my  fireplace,  on  the  left  my 
"soldier's  couch."  Perhaps  you  would  like  to  know 
what  sort  of  fireplace  I  have.  The  Yankees  are  great 
for  invention.  Well,  we  dig  a  hole  in  the  ground 
about  a  foot  deep  and  a  foot  wide,  running  from  the 
inner  corner  of  our  tent  to  some  ten  feet  outside. 
This  ditch  we  cover  with  flat  stones,  all  except  about 
a  foot  on  either  end.  Outside  I  have  built  a  chimney 
of  sods,  about  four  feet  high.  When  this  is  com 
pleted,  we  build  our  fire  in  the  tent  in  this  ditch,  and 


88  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

it  works  to  a  charm  and  makes  our  tents  quite  com 
fortable.  My  bed  is  made  by  driving  four  crotches 
in  the  ground,  and  putting  slender  poles  from  head  to 
foot.  These  I  have  covered  with  boughs  first,  and 
now  I  have  about  a  foot  of  straw  on  top  of  these. 
Upon  this  I  spread  the  fly  to  my  tent  and  one  blanket, 
and  cover  myself  with  blankets,  and  it  is  gloriously 
comfortable.  My  bed  is  a  complete  success.  My 
table  is  made  out  of  rough  boards,  but  covered  with 
newspapers  in  the  latest  approved  style.  I  wish  you 
could  look  in  here  and  see  my  table  tonight,  orna 
mented  with  books.  You  know  I  brought  some,  and 
pictures.  You  know  what  pictures  I  mean — yours 
and  Meda's.  They  constitute  the  chief  ornaments, 
— at  least  to  my  heart.  I  have  walled  them  in  with 
some  beautiful  geological  specimens  which  I  have 
obtained  in  this  State  of  natural  curiosities,  and  inside 
this  breastwork  of  rocks  I  have  a  wreath  of  flowers, 
with  which  the  earth  in  this  region  is  brightened  even 
at  this  time  of  the  year.  My  table  would  grace  a 
parlor.  My  living  is  good,  and  I  have  everything 
which  I  could  expect  in  the  field.  And  I  think  I 
shall  enjoy  our  Summer  campaign  if  it  is  not  too  warm, 
and  we  are  not  compelled  to  perform  too  many  long 
marches.  .  .  . 

There  was  a  ball  here  in  Lebanon  on  last  Friday 
evening,  given  for  the  benefit  of  the  officers.     I  did 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        89 

not  attend.  I  think  it  does  not  look  well  for  officers 
to  so  far  forget  their  own  families  as  to  spree  it  with 

the  fast  Kentucky  ladies.     I  told  you  about  

.     He  returned  to  our  regiment  the  first  of  last 

week,  and  he  made  a  perfect  fool  of  himself  by  palm 
ing  himself  off  as  a  bachelor,  and  dancing  with  a 
young  girl  all  night,  and  this  too,  coming  direct  from 
the  embrace  of  wife  and  children.  Poor  fool !  I  do 
not  say  but  such  a  course  could  be  pursued  inno 
cently,  but  I  do  say  that  it  is  unbecoming,  and  would 
do  violence  to  the  affections  of  a  pure  heart.  For 
myself,  my  thoughts  are  at  home,  and  no  pleasure  is 
so  sweet  to  me  here  in  the  field  as  remaining  in  my 
tent,  ornamented  with  the  pictures  of  wife  and  child, 
and  talking  with  them  in  that  language  of  the  heart, 
silent  yet  deep.  Holy  hours !  Dear  cherished  mem 
ories!  .  .  . 

Jennie's  righteous  indignation  blazes  forth  in  her 
reply.  Not  even  the  assurances  that  "the  course 
pursued"  by  the  offenders  "may  be  innocent"  offers 
any  palliation.  Her  own  tears  and  heart-aches  and 
loneliness  are  too  real  to  reconcile  pleasure  or  light 
ness  of  action  with  the  grimness  of  war: 

May  10,  1863 

"You  write  that  some  of  the  married  officers  are 
playing  themselves  off  as  single  men,  and  carrying  on 


90  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

flirtations  with  the  fast  ladies  of  Kentucky.  Shame 
upon  them!  They  have  no  respect  for  themselves 
or  regard  for  the  happiness  of  those  loved  ones  they 
leave  at  home.  A  lifetime  of  the  strongest  moral 
rectitude  will  scarcely  suffice  to  restore  that  confidence 
to  their  injured  wives  which  they  are  now  so  wantonly 
destroying.  Better  both  for  them  and  their  families 
that  they  never  live  to  return  to  the  homes  which  they 
have  dishonored,  and  the  hearts  they  have  betrayed. 
Perhaps  they  think  because  they  are  so  far  from  home 
their  friends  may  never  hear  of  their  miserable  con 
duct.  But  sooner  or  later  it  will  surely  reach  them. 
There  are  ready  friends  whose  business  it  is  to  retail 
such  precious  scandal.  You  say  they  may  be  inno 
cent — I  cannot  agree  with  you.  Innocence  and 
truth  never  prompt  acts  so  cruel  and  censurable. 
They  may  be  thoughtless,  but  not  innocent;  and  if 
their  evil  acts  are  persisted  in  they  merit  the  scorn 
and  loathing  of  every  true  man  and  woman.  .  .  ." 

While  at  Columbia,  Kentucky,  because  of  Captain 
Burrows9  physical  inability  to  endure  the  full  routine 
of  the  soldier's  life,  he  was  made  Provost  Marshal, 
and  the  opportunity  which  this  gave  him  to  enforce 
discipline  upon  the  sullen  Southern  non-combatants 
filled  him  with  a  joy  which  was  almost  unholy. 
These  letters  are  boyish  in  the  expression  of  his 
exuberance: 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        91 

LEBANON,  Sabbath  Eve,  April  26,  1863 

The  late  order  of  General  Burnside  is  making  the 
"Rebs"  quake  in  this  quarter,  and  I  am  glad  to  see  it. 
The  people  have  been  allowed  to  talk  treason  too 
long,  and  now  they  must  stop.  Yesterday  a  Presby 
terian  minister  in  this  place,  pastor  of  the  leading 
church,  was  arrested,  and  a  Rebel  officer  found  con 
cealed  in  his  house.  He  will  have  to  pack  up  his 
duds  and  go  to  "his  friends."  That  is  glorious! 
Then  there  is  another  beautiful  thing  in  this  arrange 
ment, — all  officers  and  soldiers  are  called  upon  to 
enforce  this  order.  If  I  don't  arrest  the  first  man  or 
woman  that  dares  say  one  word  against  our  Govern 
ment,  then  my  name  is  not  Caesar!  We  will  have 
some  good  times  trying  and  hanging  these  vipers! 
We  will  make  them  hunt  their  holes ! 

COLUMBIA,  ADAIR  COUNTT, 
Thursday,  April  30,  1863 

I  am  Provost  Marshal  of  this  city,  and  have  a  great 
amount  of  labor  to  do.  No  one  can  pass  our  lines 
without  a  pass  from  me,  and  no  one  can  get  a  pass 
from  me  unless  he  takes  the  oath  of  allegiance.  I 
administered  the  oath  to  thirty  in  less  than  three 
hours.  I  stopped  all  the  mail  going  South,  and  will 
not  let  any  more  pass  for  the  present.  Oh!  how  I 
love  to  make  the  "Rebs"  swear!  You  know  how  I 
like  traitors,  and  you  can  judge  how  much  sympathy 


92  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

I  show  them!  I  shall  arrest  every  man  who  talks 
treason,  and  send  him  to  Headquarters.  It  would 
tickle  you  to  see  some  of  these  "Rebs"  choke  when 
they  swallow  the  oath,  but  it  must  go  down.  It  will 
do  them  good !  .  .  . 

That  the  gentle  Jennie  at  home  was  in  hearty  sym 
pathy  with  her  husband's  fierce  threats  cannot  be 
doubted  after  reading  this  extract: 

May  6,  1863 

"You  write  that  you  are  now  stationed  at  Columbia, 
and  that  you  are  Provost  Marshal  of  that  place.  Is 
not  that  quite  a  responsible  position?  ...  I  hope 
you  will  not  show  the  least  shadow  of  mercy  to 
traitors;  but  caution  is  unnecessary.  I  fully  under 
stand  your  views.  Please  send  me  a  copy  of  the 
'pill'  you  are  dosing  them  with.  .  .  ." 

Captain  Burrows  continues  his  detailed  account  of 
the  performance  of  his  duty: 

OFFICE  OF  PROVOST  MARSHAL, 

COLUMBIA,  May  2,  1863 

My  labors  are  great  in  my  present  position  of 
Provost  Marshal,  but  I  like  it  very  much.  I  have 
administered  the  oath  to  over  300,  and  not  a  man  or 
woman  can  pass  beyond  our  lines  without  taking  it. 
One  man  here  in  town  swore  he  would  not  take  the 
oath.  Yesterday  morning,  while  his  horse  was 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        93 

hitched  at  the  door,  some  one  came  up  and  drove  it 
off.  It  was  necessary  for  him  to  go  beyond  the  lines 
to  get  it.  And,  as  a  matter  of  course,  he  had  to  take 
the  oath.  It  went  down  hard.  The  penalty  for 
violating  an  oath  is  death.  .  .  . 

OFFICE  OP  PROVOST  MARSHAL, 

COLUMBIA,  May  10,  1863 

As  we  were  marching  through  the  town  I  received 
ordars  from  Colonel  Morrison,  our  Brigade  Com 
mander,  to  remain  in  the  place  and  resume  my  duties 
as  Provost  Marshal.  I  took  this  as  quite  a  compli 
ment,  and  felt  still  more  complimented  after  I  learned 
that  the  citizens  had  petitioned  the  Colonel  for  my 
return.  I  have  some  warm  friends  here,  among 
whom  is  Judge  Bramlette,  the  Union  nominee  for 
Governor.  He  says  the  course  I  have  pursued  is  just, 
and  ought  to  have  been  adopted  long  before  this.  I 
think  I  told  you  in  my  last  that  I  was  not  instructed  to 
administer  the  oath  of  allegiance,  but  I  wanted  to  do 
it,  and  not  a  man  or  woman  can  leave  till  the  pill  is 
taken.  One  man  skulked  out,  and  I  am  going  to 
send  for  him  in  the  morning.  He  has  got  to  take  it 
or  "go  up."  ...  I  send  in  this  a  copy  of  the  oath. 
What  do  you  think  of  it?  Isn't  it  glorious?.  .  . 

On  May  2  and  3,  1863,  General  Hooker,  who  had 
succeeded  General  Burnside  in  command  of  the  Army 


94  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

of  the  Potomac,  met  Lee  and  Jackson  at  Chancellors- 
ville,  and  was  disastrously  defeated.  Gloom  settled 
down  upon  the  North,  and  the  Union  army  itself 
found  it  difficult  to  conceal  its  despair.  This  letter 
is  typical  in  its  expression,  frankly  acknowledging  the 
perilous  situation  but  doggedly  insisting  upon  ulti 
mate  success: 

COLUMBIA,  KENTUCKY, 

May  17,  1863 

You  have  learned  of  our  defeat  on  the  Rappahan- 
nock.  My  heart  is  discouraged.  Hooker,  on  whom 
the  people  and  the  Army  had  placed  their  hopes,  is 
out-generaled  and  ruined.  To  whom  shall  we  look 
now?  Hooker  is  not  a  general. 

You  ask  me  the  cause  of  his  defeat.  I  think  it  was 
nothing  more  than  inability  to  command  such  an 
army.  He  was  out-generaled,  and  Lee  has  shown 
himself  to  be  the  greatest  spirit  of  the  age.  Hooker 
threw  part  of  his  army  in  the  rear  and  part  in  front, 
thereby  weakening  his  force  and  separating  them 
beyond  supporting  distance.  Lee  hurls  all  his  forces 
upon  Hooker  and  routs  him,  and  then,  by  a  quick 
march,  pounces  upon  Sedgwick,  driving  him  across 
the  river,  almost  annihilating  him.  Thus,  with  an  in 
ferior  number,  Lee  defeats  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
By  latest  accounts,  Lee  is  moving  upon  Washington, 
and  soon  the  Capital  will  again  be  in  danger.  I 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        95 

would  not  be  surprised  if  McClellan  was  again  placed 
in  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  You  know 
I  am  not  a  McClellan  man,  but  I  have  never  doubted 
his  military  ability.  The  great  difficulty  with  him  is, 
he  is  too  slow,  too  timid.  He  commenced  a  siege 
against  Yorktown  with  108,000  men  when  it  was 
held  by  only  15,000  of  the  enemy,  and  whenever  he 
meets  the  enemy  he  hesitates  and  pauses  till  the 
enemy  gains  a  sufficient  amount  of  strength  to  success 
fully  resist  or  retreat.  Were  he  not  a  timid  man  he 
would  be  the  hero  of  the  hour. 

But  it  is  idle  to  speculate  upon  his  virtues.  When 
the  Nation  is  beggared,  then,  perhaps,  Heaven  will 
give  us  a  man  who  can  use  the  Nation's  resources  for 
our  prosperity.  Jennie,  do  not  think  by  this  letter 
that  I  am  ready  to  surrender.  Never!  as  long  as  I 
live !  We  shall  conquer  in  the  end.  Do  not  be  dis 
couraged.  We  have  everything  to  urge  us  onwards. 
If  we  are  defeated,  then  war  and  devastation  will 
sweep  over  this  land  until  all  is  enveloped  in  a  com 
mon  ruin.  .  .  . 

OFFICE  OF  PROVOST  MARSHAL, 

COLUMBIA,  May  19,  1863 

Not  having  any  more  news  to  write,  what  shall  I 
say?  It  is  useless  to  tell  you  of  my  love  for  you  and 
our  little  one.  It  is  as  pure  as  Heaven  and  as  deep 
as  the  universe.  You  know  it  all.  How  happy  we 


96  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

shall  be  when  this  cruel  war  is  brought  to  a  close,  and 
we,  in  our  own  dear  home,  can  partake  of  its  home 
joys,  which  fill  the  heart  with  wild  delight.  Heaven 
speed  that  hour!  .  .  . 

Burrows  found  it  more  and  more  difficult  to  keep 
up  with  the  army  requirements  because  of  his  weak 
ened  physical  condition;  for  he  had  never  regained  his 
strength  after  the  strenuous  days  of  South  Mountain 
and  Antietam.  Just  when  it  seemed  inevitable  that 
he  would  be  obliged  to  return  home,  the  way  opened 
for  him  to  continue  in  service: 

OFFICE  OF  PROVOST  MARSHAL, 

COLUMBIA,  May  28,  1863 

General  Welch  is  here  in  command.  He  is  the 
Commander  of  the  First  Division.  He  reached  here 
day  before  yesterday.  He  is  a  splendid  man.  Al 
though  Belcher  was  Brigade  Provost  Marshal,  yet  I 
have  done  so  well  that  I  shall  continue  in  my  present 
position  by  order  of  General  Welch.  .  .  . 

It  almost  kills  me  to  march.  Tomorrow  morning 
I  ride,  as  the  Colonel  is  going  to  Lebanon,  and  I  will 
act  as  Lieutenant-Colonel  on  the  march.  I  went  up 
to  General  Welch's  Headquarters  this  morning — like 
him  very  much.  Colonel  Luce  told  him  that  I  could 
not  walk,  and  that  I  thought  of  resigning.  The  Gen 
eral  said,  "Do  not  resign,  and  I  will  get  you  a  position 
as  a  staff  officer." 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        97 

This  new  appointment  separated  Captain  Bur 
rows  from  his  comrades  of  the  Seventeenth  Michigan, 
which  was  a  real  regret;  but  it  had  its  compensations. 
He  hastens  to  reassure  the  anxious  heart  of  the  wait 
ing  wife  at  home  by  his  picture  of  his  changed  sur 
roundings: 

HEADQUARTERS  FIRST  DIVISION,  G.A.C. 
VICKSBURG,  Monday,  June  22,  1863 

This  evening  finds  me  in  my  tent  at  the  Head 
quarters  of  General  Welch,  in  excellent  health  and 
the  best  of  spirits.  You  cannot  imagine  how  much 
easier  I  am  going  to  have  it  here  than  I  did  with  my 
company.  If  course  I  regret  to  leave  the  shattered 
remnant  of  that  noble  band  of  boys  who  have  stood 
beside  me  in  so  many  well-fought  battles,  who  bear 
upon  their  breasts  the  scars  of  South  Mountain, 
Antietam,  and  Fredericksburg;  with  whom  I  have 
shared  the  privations  of  the  camp  and  the  hardships 
of  the  march,  and  gathered  with  them  around  the 
lonely  grave  of  some  fallen  comrade,  weeping  over 
his  early  end.  Yet,  in  such  a  cause  as  this  our 
private  feelings  must  give  way  to  the  public  interest, 
and  our  hearts  for  the  time  being  must  be  wedded  to 
the  public  good.  While  with  them  I  feel  that  I  have 
done  my  duty  to  them  and  my  country,  and  if  the  star 
of  duty  calls  me  to  another  field  of  action  I  must 
follow  in  its  light.  My  ambition  knows  no  bounds 


98  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

in  such  a  contest  as  this,  where  the  fate  of  a  Republic, 
the  happiness  of  my  family,  and  the  hopes  of  the 
world  are  all  involved  in  the  issues  of  the  mighty 
present.  The  deep-seated  affections  of  the  human 
heart  cannot  be  outrooted,  neither  must  our  country 
be  forgotten. 

But  I  was  going  to  tell  you  how  much  easier  I  will 
have  it  here  than  in  my  company.  In  the  regiment 
all  officers  have  been  reduced  in  baggage  to  a  very 
small  amount,  and  were  deprived  of  wall  tents,  com 
pelled  to  use  the  shelter  tents,  and  besides  all  this 
must  endure  the  tedious  march.  Here  I  have  my 
wall  tent,  with  some  one  to  put  it  up  for  me.  My 
table,  chairs,  and  desk  furnished,  a  horse  and  trap 
pings  furnished  by  the  Government,  so  that  all  ex 
pected  expense  is  done  away  with.  Isn't  it  glorious ! 
Now,  Jennie,  you  have  not  half  the  reason  to  worry 
about  me  that  you  had  before.  .  .  . 

There  is  no  mention  in  the  letters  which  exist  of 
the  battle  of  Jackson,  which  was  fought  on  July  1 1, 
1863,  but  G.A.R.  Commander  Samuel  J.  Lawrence 
has  recorded  this  story  of  Captain  Burrows'  gallantry 
inaction: 

"The  late  General  William  Shakespeare,"  he 
relates,  "had  been  shot  down  and  left  upon  the  field. 
When  Captain  Burrows  missed  him,  he  rushed  back 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY        99 

to  rescue  him.  Reaching  the  wounded  officer,  Bur 
rows  insisted  on  carrying  him  off  the  field,  although 
the  General  ordered  him  to  leave  him  there  to  die. 
Bullets  were  humming  like  bees,  and  it  seemed  impos 
sible  for  a  man  to  live  in  such  a  fire,  but  Burrows  got 
through  and  brought  the  General  with  him." 

As  an  officer,  Burrows  demonstrated  his  leadership 
as  he  afterwards  showed  it  in  his  statesmanship. 
"He  was  the  coolest  man,"  said  William  Winegar  of 
Grand  Rapids,  a  member  of  his  company,  "and  one 
of  the  bravest  I  ever  saw  in  battle.  He  was  an 
inspiration  to  all  of  us,  and  was  beloved  by  his  com 
rades  as  almost  no  other  man  was  beloved." 

The  stubbornness  with  which  the  people  in  the 
eastern  third  of  the  State  of  Tennessee  refused  all 
overtures  to  join  the  Confederacy  made  them  the 
mark  for  vicious  reprisals.  Burrows'  regiment  was  a 
part  of  the  Union  forces  sent  to  the  border  for  their 
protection.  The  acts  of  wanton  cruelty  practiced 
upon  these  non-combatants  inflamed  his  hatred  for 
the  Rebels,  and  erroneously  confirmed  his  belief  that 
the  war  itself,  from  a  Southern  standpoint,  was  being 
conducted  upon  these  inhuman  lines.  .  He  pours  out 
his  indignation  to  the  wife  at  home: 

COLUMBIA,  KENTUCKY, 
Friday  Afternoon,  May  22,  1863 

....  You  say,  speaking  of  the  privilege  denied 


ioo  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

us  of  speaking  face  to  face,  that  in  these  war  times 
"we  must  accustom  ourselves  to  self-denials."  No 
doubt  but  that  I  am  missed  in  the  home  circle;  no 
doubt  but  that  had  your  pillow  a  tongue  it  would  tell 
a  tale  of  sleepless  nights  and  troubled  visions;  no 
doubt  but  that  the  struggle  at  parting  with  my  wife 
and  child  was  heart-rending;  no  doubt  but  that  the 
vision  of  our  happy  home,  forsaken  for  our  country, 
will  be  forever  impressed  upon  our  memory;  no  doubt 
but  that  we  spend  many  a  lonely  hour  thinking  of  joys 
forsaken,  and  fearing  that  perhaps  they  may  never 
again  be  realized, — yet  all  this  pain  and  suffering 
which  we  are  enduring  for  the  good  of  our  common 
mother  country  is  but  a  drop  to  the  wild  ocean  of  grief 
and  wretchedness  which  has  engulfed  East  Tennessee, 
and  whose  mad  waves  are  now  lashing  at  the  shores 
of  the  border  States,  and  threaten  to  overwhelm  them 
and  us  in  a  common  ruin. 

Here  neither  life,  liberty,  nor  property  is  secure. 
Bands  of  lawless  robbers  and  murderers  infest  even 
valleys  and  mountains,  licensed  to  plunder  and  lay 
waste  the  whole  land  until  desolation  and  ruin  shall 
reign  supreme.  The  protest  of  the  father,  the 
entreaties  of  the  mother,  the  pleadings  of  helpless 
infancy  are  alike  inadequate  to  move  to  pity  their  icy 
hearts.  Treason  has  taken  possession  of  their  lives, 
and  he  who  has  deliberately  entered  upon  a  plan  for 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      101 

destroying  this  Government  is  ready  to  play  a  part  in 
any  tragedy  however  dark  and  bloody.  Indeed,  com 
mon  vices  whiten  into  seeming  virtues.  .  .  .  We 
sacrifice  much,  endure  much,  but  are  you  not  willing 
to  bear  all  until  these  wrongs  are  righted,  and  these 
monsters  in  human  shape  are  hunted  from  the  face 
of  this  fair  earth?  Never  will  I,  for  one,  like  a 
dastard  coward,  surrender  to  these  outlaws,  and  let 
them  hunt  from  my  home  the  wife  and  child  for  whom 
I  have  given  up  my  life  to  protect  and  defend.  To  do 
it  will  be  treason  supreme. 

Then,  Jennie,  when  you  are  suffering  and  agoniz 
ing  for  me  far  away,  think  of  the  thousand  bleeding 
hearts  we  are  struggling  to  bind  up,  and  let  it  nerve 
you  to  endure  your  hardships,  and  let  it  arouse  all 
that  is  womanly  in  your  noble  nature.  You  say  that 
you  do  not  believe  but  that  those  wives  who  send  their 
husbands  so  freely  to  the  war  do  it  from  other  motives 
than  patriotism.  I  agree  with  you  fully.  I  would 
not  have  you  say  to  me,  "Go  to  war";  it  would  argue 
a  lack  of  that  love  upon  which  the  soul  lives  and 
dotes.  .  .  . 

OFFICE  OF  PROVOST  MARSHAL, 
COLUMBIA,  August  21,  1863 

The  citizens  are  flocking  here  in  great  numbers 
daily,  bringing  their  property — all  that  is  movable. 
The  "Rebs"  cross  every  night  in  small  numbers,  and 


102  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

plunder  and  rob  the  people.  I  do  not  know  why  our 
cavalry  is  not  sent  out  and  these  outlaws  driven  across 
the  river.  I  understand  it  is  to  be  done.  This  can 
be  done  only  by  cavalry  and,  of  course,  the  infantry 
will  remain  at  this  point.  I  pity  the  people  of  Clin 
ton  and  Russell  counties.  They  have  been  driven 
from  their  homes,  and  their  wives  and  children  have 
been  forced  to  take  shelter  in  the  caves  and  fastnesses 
of  their  mountains.  Men  have  come  to  me  here, 
bringing  with  them  what  little  property  they  could 
carry,  and  have  shed  tears  like  girls  when  they  were 
relating  the  story  of  their  wrongs,  and  remembered 
the  dear  ones  they  left  behind.  .  .  .  Here  the  father 
sleeps  with  his  rifle  under  his  pillow;  the  mother 
drops  a  bitter  tear  over  the  cradle  of  her  child  as  she 
presses  upon  its  untaught  lips  the  token  of  a  mother's 
love,  and  all  retire  to  sleep — perhaps  the  sleep  of 
death.  This  agony  of  suspense  is  terrible.  How 
happy  I  shall  be  when  the  G.  A.  C.  with  its  brave 
thousands  shall  speak  with  the  cannon  and  sword  to 
the  oppressed  of  that  land,  and  the  father  can  once 
more  embrace  wife  and  child  under  the  starry  flag  of 
our  rescued  country.  That  time  is  not  far  distant. 
Heaven  speed  it! 

We  get  the  news  every  day  by  telegraph.  It  looks 
encouraging  just  now.  The  reverse  of  Hooker  is 
nothing.  We  injured  the  "Rebs''  more  than  they 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      103 

injured  us.1  The  war  will  end  in  1864 — you  see  if 
I  am  not  right.  Three  places  are  to  be  taken,  three 
battles  are  to  be  fought,  and  the  old  flag  will  be 
reinstated  throughout  our  broad  domain.  Hooker, 
Rosecrans,  and  Grant  must  triumph,  and  the  rotten 
Confederacy  fall.  The  day's  report  brings  us  the 
news  that  Grant  has  taken  Jackson,  Mississippi,  and 
burned  it.  If  this  be  true,  the  railroads  are  cut  off, 
and  Vicksburg  and  Port  Hudson  must  fall.  Indeed 
it  is  rumored  that  Vicksburg  is  evacuated.  I  think  it 
more  than  probable.  Tomorrow  we  shall  hear  some 
thing  more.  I  hope  its  confirmation.  .  .  . 

It  was  at  Blue  Springs,  Tennessee,  that  Captain 
Burrows  fought  his  last  battle  in  company  with  the 
Seventeenth  Michigan.2  After  the  months  spent  in 

iThe  victory  cost  the  Confederates  the  life  of  Stonewall  Jackson, 
who  was  shot  through  mistake  by  his  own  pickets  as  he  returned  from 
a  reconnaissance. 

2  The  history  of  the  Seventeenth  Michigan  from  this  point  should 
be  recorded:  After  General  Longstreet  marched  into  Eastern  Tennes 
see,  the  Seventeenth  followed  him  and  occupied  several  positions,  march 
ing  continuously,  destitute  of  supplies,  and  depending  wholly  for  their 
scanty  rations  upon  the  country  through  which  they  passed.  They 
suffered  much  also  from  the  sleet  and  snow,  against  which  their  thread 
bare  uniforms  offered  little  protection.  On  March  22,  1864,  the  regi 
ment  began  its  return  march  of  nearly  two  hundred  miles  across  the 
Cumberland  Mountains  to  Nicholasville,  Kentucky,  where  it  received 
orders  to  proceed  to  Annapolis,  Maryland,  to  join  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  On  May  6,  1864,  it  was  engaged  in  the  desperate  battle  of 
the  Wilderness,  and  in  a  daring  charge  upon  the  enemy's  works,  the 
Seventeenth  was  surrounded  in  the  dense  woods  by  the  heavy  lines 
of  the  Confederates  and  almost  annihilated.  As  a  result,  the  regiment 
practically  lost  its  position  in  the  brigade  for  want  of  numbers,  and 


104  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1863 

Eastern  Tennessee,  the  regiment  was  sent  to  Lenoir 
Station  to  contest  the  advance  of  General  Longstreet's 
troops.  As  the  Union  forces  fell  slowly  back  upon 
Knoxville,  the  Seventeenth  acted  as  rear  guard,  and 
fought  a  severe  engagement  with  Longstreet's  force. 
In  this  letter  to  his  wife  Burrows  gives  a  vivid  descrip 
tion  of  that  portion  of  the  battle  in  which  he  person 
ally  took  part : 

HEADQUARTERS,  FIRST  DIVISION",  NINTH   ARMY  CORPS, 
Camp  at  KNOXVILLE,  TEN  LESSEE, 

Friday,  October  16,  1863 

I  have  not  written  you  since  a  week  ago  today. 
The  fault  is  none  of  mine — -circumstances  control  us 
all.  When  I  wrote  you  last  Friday  I  used  a  little 
deception — my  old  trick,  you  know;  but  you  will 
pardon  it  when  you  remember  the  motive.  You 
know  I  would  not  cause  you  one  unnecessary  sorrow. 
I  told  you  in  my  last  not  to  worry  about  me  if  you  did 
not  get  a  letter  for  a  week  or  ten  days,  as  the  mails 
were  liable  to  be  cut  off.  I  knew  I  could  not  write 
you  again  for  some  time,  but  I  thought  it  not  prudent 
then  to  give  you  the  reason,  as  it  would  but  pain  you 
without  assisting  me.  But  to  the  facts.  When  I 
wrote  you  my  last  we  were  under  marching  orders, 

the  survivors  served  with  the  army  in  various  positions  assigned  them, 
taking  part  in  the  assault  before  Petersburg.  After  Lee's  surrender, 
the  Seventeenth  embarked  at  City  Point  for  Alexandria,  Virginia,  and 
participated  in  the  grand  review  at  Washington  on  May  23,  1865. 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      105 

and  the  majority  of  our  troops  had  already  moved. 
For  some  time  the  Rebel  force  had  been  collecting  in 
the  extreme  portion  of  Eastern  Tennessee,  with  the 
intention  of  attacking  Burnside  and  driving  him  from 
Knoxville  and  Tennessee.  This  army  was  already  in 
motion,  and  had  nearly  reached  Morristown,  when 
Burnside  ordered  the  army  to  meet  the  exultant  foe. 
On  Thursday,  the  8th,  the  cars  were  loaded  with 
troops,  and  rolling  up  toward  Morristown.  General 
Willcox  was  already  there  with  5,000  troops,  and  the 
Ninth  Army  Corps,  together  with  General  Shackel- 
ford's  Cavalry,  were  on  the  move.  Friday  noon, 
October  Qth,  the  last  train  of  troops  left  Knoxville. 
On  this  train  were  Major-Generals  Burnside  and 
Parke  and  staffs,  and  Brigadier-Generals  Ferrero, 
Potter,  and  Shackelford,  and  staffs — all  in  one  car. 
At  every  station  crowds  of  citizens  gathered  around 
the  train  and  welcomed  the  Generals  with  deafening 
cheers.  The  starry  flag  of  our  country  waved  from 
almost  every  housetop,  and  our  trip  seemed  more  like 
a  pleasure  ride  than  a  march  to  a  battlefield.  The 
loyalty  of  these  much-abused  American  citizens  is 
growing  stronger  and  stronger  every  day,  and  the 
people  are  flocking  to  their  country's  standard  by 
thousands.  East  Tennessee  is  delivered  from  the 
tyrant's  rule,  and  the  loved  flag  of  the  Republic  kisses 
the  mountain  breeze.  On  Friday,  the  cars  ran 


io6  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

beyond  Morristown  to  a  place  called  Bull's  Gap, 
where  we  disembarked  about  nine  o'clock  at  night. 
Above  this  point  the  Rebels  held  the  railroad.  After 
a  good  night's  rest  we  continued  our  march,  starting 
Saturday  morning  at  six  o'clock.  The  cavalry  in  the 
morning  had  engaged  the  enemy,  who  had  taken  up  a 
strong  position  at  a  place  called  Blue  Springs.  They 
were  unable  to  advance.  We  reached  the  scene  of 
action  at  ten  o'clock.  From  that  time  until  three  in 
the  afternoon  Colonel  Carter  was  endeavoring  to  find 
out  the  position  of  the  enemy,  and  the  crack  of 
musketry  and  the  thunder  of  artillery  rolled  along 
the  hill.  Still,  no  headway  was  made.  At  three 
o'clock  p.  M.,  General  Ferrero  asked  General  Burn- 
side  to  allow  him  to  attack  the  enemy.  It  was  at  once 
granted.  The  First  Division  of  the  Ninth  Army 
Corps  was  immediately  set  in  motion.  The  line  of 
battle  was  formed,  the  cannon  were  planted,  and  all 
things  ready  for  the  coming  engagement.  Soon  the 
ball  opened.  The  mountain  shook  with  the  thunder 
of  our  guns,  the  stretchers  were  bearing  off  the 
wounded,  and  all  the  terrors  of  the  battle  were  upon 
us.  Our  Division  alone  drove  the  enemy  for  more 
than  a  mile,  and  would  have  captured  his  guns  had 
not  darkness  overtaken  us.  When  the  firing  ceased 
we  were  under  the  very  muzzles  of  their  guns.  But 
night  stopped  the  struggle,  and  the  victory  was  ours. 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      107 

General  Ferrero  is  a  perfect  Napoleon.  We  all  were 
in  the  thickest  of  the  fight,  and  never  since  the  battle 
of  South  Mountain  have  I  been  where  shot  and  shell 
flew  thicker.  The  General  is  perfectly  reckless  of 
danger — courting  it  as  if  it  were  a  thing  to  be  loved. 
Just  at  night  I  rode  back  to  order  up  a  battery,  and  as 
I  was  passing  through  the  ranks  of  the  Michigan 
Twentieth  a  cannon  ball  struck  in  the  regiment, 
wounding  three  and  killing  one.  As  I  rode  up  a  road 
a  shell  burst  over  my  head,  the  fragments  flying  all 
around  me,  and  while  we  were  driving  the  enemy  a 
shell  burst  so  near  me  that  I  felt  the  motion  of  the  air, 
and  saw  the  flash  of  light.  The  action  was  terrific  for 
the  time  being,  but,  as  fortune  would  have  it,  I 
escaped  without  a  scratch.  This  is  my  sixth  engage 
ment.  Haven't  I  been  fortunate?  Heaven  be 
thanked !  We  lost  in  this  action  about  sixty  in  killed 
and  wounded.  The  killed  and  wounded  of  the 
enemy  outnumbered  our  own. 

That  night  we  slept  without  tents  with  the  cloud 
less  canopy  of  Heaven  for  our  covering,  and  dreamed 
of  our  homes  and  loved  ones  far  away.  Sabbath 
morning,  at  daylight,  our  skirmishers  advanced,  but 
soon  ascertained  that  the  enemy  had  flown.  Imme 
diately  the  army  was  in  motion.  The  foaming 
cavalry  dashed  by,  the  artillery  rolled  rapidly  onward, 
and  the  soldiers,  eager  to  capture  the  foe,  pressed 


108  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

forward  with  unbounded  eagerness.  We  were  sure 
of  capturing  the  enemy.  Colonel  Foster  had  been 
sent  to  head  off  their  retreat,  and  had  succeeded  in 
gaining  their  rear.  Escape  was  impossible.  But 
just  as  we  were  attacking  their  rear  Foster  became 
frightened  (or  else  he  is  treacherous) ,  skulked  behind 
a  mountain,  and  let  the  enemy  escape.  It  was  a  cry 
ing  shame !  The  cavalry  pursued  them,  the  infantry 
encamped.  The  contest  was  over.  Had  Foster  done 
his  duty  we  should  have  captured  5,000  prisoners, 
but  it  is  just  our  luck!  Treachery  and  imbecility 
have  almost  ruined  us,  but  our  cavalry  will  pursue  the 
enemy  and  capture  many  prisoners,  and  drive  the  last 
armed  traitor  from  the  borders  of  Tennessee. 

Monday  we  rested.  Tuesday  morning  we  com 
menced  our  march  back  to  Knoxville.  The  troops 
went  on  the  cars.  The  train  with  the  artillery  took 
the  road  and  went  with  them,  they  being  placed  under 
my  command.  Tuesday  night  we  encamped  at  Blue 
Springs,  the  battlefield.  Wednesday  night  encamped 
at  Panther  Springs,  and  last  night  reached  our  old 
quarters  here  in  Knoxville,  all  safe  and  sound  and 
well. 

So  you  have  a  history  of  this  brief  campaign. 
Now  you  are  glad,  I  know,  that  I  did  not  tell  you  of 
this  before  it  happened,  as  you  would  have  worried 
continually.  Pardon  the  deception.  .  ;  . 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      109 

Although  Captain  Burrows  escaped  "without  a 
scratch,"  this  last  conflict  with  the  enemy  proved  con 
clusively  that  he  was  physically  unfit  for  further 
active  service.  More  than  this,  the  campaign  for 
Lincoln's  second  election  was  in  sight,  and  his  friends 
in  the  army  and  at  home  persuaded  him  that  he  could 
contribute  more  to  the  cause  to  which  he  had  devoted 
himself  with  his  voice  than  by  continuing  his  service 
in  the  field.  So  he  writes  home : 

October  16,  1863 

I  expect  to  start  for  Unionville  Tuesday  or  Wednes 
day.  You  will  see  me  at  the  depot  some  time  week 
after  next.  I  will  write  you  as  soon  as  my  resigna 
tion  is  accepted,  and  tell  you  when  I  start.  It  will 
take  me  a  week  to  go  home.  I  will  soon  be  with  you. 
Tell  little  Meda  Papa  is  coming  home.  .  .  . 

While  "Papa  is  coming  home"  let  us  piece  to 
gether  the  story  of  the  pain  and  the  heartache  and  the 
anxiety  which  had  been  slowly  consuming  the  patient 
Jennie,  while  her  husband  was  performing  his  part 
in  the  great  struggle  to  preserve  the  Union  and  to 
defend  the  Home.  As  she  so  frankly  says,  there  is 
"nothing  to  write  about."  Nothing,  except  of  her 
self  and  of  the  little  daughter  in  which  the  life  of  both 
was  centered! 

"People  tell  me  that  I  have  changed  somewhat," 


1 10  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

she  writes  with  unconscious  pathos,  "and  that  I  look 
a  few  years  older  than  when  you  went  away,  and  yet  I 
think  I  am  stronger  and  can  endure  more  than  I  used 
to.  Ma  tells  me  I  will  look  so  worn  and  used  up  gen 
erally  that  you  will  be  ashamed  of  me  when  you  come 
home.  But  I  think  I  shall  succeed  in  preserving  my 
identity.  You  will  at  least  find  the  same  heart.  .  .  . 
I  presume  you  have  noticed  that  I  do  not  write  as  long 
letters  lately;  it  is  because  it  makes  my  side  ache." 

Read  these  disconnected  extracts  from  the  letters 
which  contained  "nothing,"  and  in  them  read  the 
story  of  thousands  of  women  of  these  paralyzing 
years.  Read  in  them  the  patient  loyalty,  the  inspir 
ing  confidence,  the  unwavering  devotion,  which  gave 
to  the  husbands  and  the  sons  the  power  to  preserve 
the  Union: 

"You  don't  know  how  I  miss  you,  Caesar.  The 
Ipnger  you  are  gone  the  more  utter  my  loneliness  is. 
I  miss  your  rich,  strong,  sympathetic  nature.  My 
very  being  has  become  identified  with  you.  But  you 
are  in  the  way  of  duty,  and  I  must  be  content.  Our 
suffering  country  needs  just  such  brave,  noble  spirits 
to  defend  her  injured  rights,  although  my  life  (and 
thousands  of  others)  be  drained  of  every  joy.  .  .  ." 

"In  your  last  letter  you  seem  discouraged  on  ac 
count  of  the  inactivity  of  the  army.  You  must  be 
patriotic  indeed  if  you  can  urge  an  advance  under  the 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      ill 

present  state  of  weather  and  roads.  ...  I  don't 
think  I  shall  ever  murmur  or  complain  again,  for 
even  when  I  am  sick  I  am  still  more  comfortable  than 
you.  .  .  ." 

"You  want  me  to  give  you  the  exact  condition  of 
my  own  health.  Well,  I  have  occasional  sick  spells 
(they  usually  occur  after  battles  or  periods  of  more 
than  ordinary  concern) ,  but  on  the  whole  my  health  is 
very  good.  .  .  .  For  a  week  past  I  have  been  subject 
to  a  sort  of  miserable  indifference.  I  think  it  was  the 
reaction  consequent  upon  a  state  of  intense  excite 
ment  and  solicitude  on  your  account. 

"How  did  you  spend  your  Christmas  yesterday? 
Meda  hung  up  her  stocking  and  got  it  full.  Ma  put 
in  a  new  red  apron,  and  Nettie  put  in  candy  and 
raisins,  and  the  most  perfect  little  gilt  china  pitcher 
you  ever  saw.  She  was  perfectly  carried  away  with 
it.  When  she  first  saw  it  she  said,  'Now  I  wish  I 
could  show  this  to  Papa.9  In  the  morning  I  heard 
some  one  talking  in  the  dining-room.  I  looked  in 
and  there  stood  Meda,  up  in  a  chair  before  your  like 
ness,  throwing  kisses  at  you  and  saying,  'I  wish  you 
a  Merry  Christmas,  Papa  dear.'  .  .  . 

"The  old  year,  so  heavily  laden  with  great  events, 
has  gone  down  into  the  tomb  of  the  past.  It  was  a 
mighty  swell  upon  the  sea  of  time,  but  it  is  now 
broken  upon  the  shore.  The  dark  account  of  the 


112  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1863 

past  twelve  months  will  form  an  important  feature  in 
our  historic  record.  The  twilight  which  attended  the 
birth  of  the  old  year  has  deepened  into  black  dark 
ness.  Aside  from  our  National  calamities  and  sad 
disasters  and  reverses  to  our  armies,  there  are  unwrit 
ten  volumes  of  misery  and  anguish,  known  only  to 
the  heart  of  the  stricken  sufferer.  Think  of  the 
ruined  households  and  broken  home  circles  where  joy 
and  gladness  reigned  but  one  short  year  ago.  .  .  . 

"May  the  New  Year  be  unlike  the  old.  May  she 
teem  with  victories  of  right  over  wrong,  freedom  over 
slavery;  may  liberal,  just,  and  democratic  views  (no 
reference  to  modern  Democracy!)  triumph  over  mer 
cenary  and  despotic  sentiment.  Heaven  grant  that 
the  coming  year  may  not  chronicle  the  date  of  a 
ruined  Nation !  .  .  .  You  ask  me  if  I  do  not  love  to 
think  of  our  future  home.  Oh !  Caesar,  if  it  were  not 
for  thoughts  of  the  future  I  could  not  endure  the 
present.  ...  I  do  not  wish  to  see  our  country  suffer 
any  further  dishonor,  but  if  anything  like  an  honor 
able  compromise  can  be  effected  I  should  be  in  favor 
of  it.  .  .  ." 

Writing  to  him  while  he  is  still  at  Seminary  Hos 
pital  she  says:  "Don't  get  well  too  fast  for  I  am 
afraid  you  will  have  to  go  back  to  the  regiment.  I 
know  you  will  think  this  is  not  very  honorable  advice, 
but  I  cannot  help  it.  .  .  ." 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      113 

"My  eyes  feel  unusually  bad  this  evening.  Can 
you  guess  what  ails  them?  .  .  .  There  has  been  an 
unusual  amount  of  rascality  going  on  lately.  Every 
paper  has  its  list  of  robberies, — soldiers  especially 
are  victims;  so,  my  dear,  you  must  be  on  your  guard 
when  coming  home." 

"Caesar,  the  State  of  Ohio  has  gone  Democratic, — 
isn't  it  a  burning  shame?  ...  Oh!  my  Caesar,  can 
it  be  that  you  must  engage  in  another  murderous  con 
flict.  ...  I  have  adopted  the  plan  of  living  only 
one  day  at  a  time,  and  find  that  quite  as  much  as  I 
am  adequate  to." 

"I  have  packed  in  the  valise  one  can  of  cherries, 
one  of  raspberries,  some  dried  peaches,  a  few  dried 
cherries,  some  dried  halibut  (don't  know  how  to 
spell  it),  a  little  speck  of  maple  sugar,  a  little  piece  of 
cheese,  some  dried  corn,  two  pair  of  woollen  socks, 
and  a  bottle  of  whiskey.  Vess  1  told  me  to  send  it, 
and  I  need  not  caution  you  to  use  it  judiciously." 

"You  must  be  very  careful  what  you  say  against 
General  McClellan.  I  am  afraid  you  will  say  more 
than  will  be  prudent.  You  know  my  motive  is  good 
in  warning  you." 

"I  did  not  sleep  much  last  night,  for  it  was  bitter 
cold.  I  cannot  rest  when  I  know  that  you  must  be 
suffering.  .  .  .  You  do  not  know  how  worried  Meda 

i  Sylvester  Solomon  Burrows. 


1 14  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [  1863 

is  for  you.  She  seems  to  perfectly  realize  your  con 
dition.  Last  night,  after  we  got  to  bed,  she  com 
menced  laughing  very  heartily.  I  asked  her  what 
pleased  her,  and  she  said,  CI  was  thinking  how  glad 
we  would  be  if  my  dear  Papa  would  come  right  into 
our  room  now.'  I  thought  so  too.  ...  I  could  not 
live  if  I  thought  I  never  should  see  you  again.  .  .  ." 
The  prayers  availed,  and  the  reunion  became  a 
reality.  The  "little  home,"  so  many  times  referred 
to,  toward  which  they  both  had  planned,  and  for 
which  they  had  toiled  and  sacrificed,  was  purchased 
in  Kalamazoo  in  November,  1863.  But  even  the 
joy  of  realization  was  not  enough  to  give  back  to  the 
frail  body  what  the  constant  strain  had  taken  from  it, 
and  in  August  of  the  following  year  Jennie  passed 
away  to  that  rich  reward  which  belongs  to  those  who 
unhesitatingly  give  of  themselves  to  those  they  love: 

"  'Mid  the  flower-wreathed  tombs  I  stand, 
Bearing  lilies  in  my  hand. 
Comrades!  in  what  soldier  grave 
Sleeps  the  bravest  of  the  brave?} 

"One  low  grave,  the  trees  beneath, 
Bears  no  garland,  wears  no  wreath, 
Yet  no  heart  more  high  and  warm 
Ever  dared  the  battle-storm. 


1864]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      115 

"Turning  from  my  comrades9  eyes, 
Kneeling  where  a  woman  lies, 
I  strew  lilies  on  the  grave 
Of  the  bravest  of  the  brave.9'  1 

i  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson. 


A 


CHAPTER  IV 

PERSONAL  RECONSTRUCTION.     1864-1872 
S  Burrows  relates  in  the  last  chapter,  he  had 


taken  part  in  six  actual  engagements, — South 
Mountain,  Maryland,  September  14,  1862;  Antie- 
tam,  Maryland,  September  17,  1862;  Fredericks- 
burg,  Virginia,  December  13,  1862;  the  siege  of 
Vicksburg,  June  17  to  July  4,  1863;  Jackson,  Missis 
sippi,  July  11,  1863;  and  Blue  Springs,  Tennessee, 
October  1O9  1863.  Besides  this,  he  took  part  in  the 
East  Tennessee  Campaign  from  August  16  to  October 
19,  1863,  the  date  of  his  honorable  discharge  on 
resignation. 

The  return  home  meant  a  complete  readjustment. 
During  the  period  of  his  service  in  the  army  the  coun 
try  itself  had  undergone  a  drastic  reorganization,  and 
the  conditions  in  Kalamazoo  were  to  be  learned  anew. 
Friends  and  comrades  were  dead  or  still  at  the  front, 
the  results  of  the  terrible  strain  upon  the  people  were 
everywhere  apparent,  his  duties  to  his  family,  his 
associates,  and  himself  were  complicated  and  uncer 
tain, — yet  he  plunged  into  the  work  as  he  saw  it  to 

116 


1872]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      117 

be  done.  In  helping  to  solve  the  problem  of  the 
community  he  succeeded  in  solving  his  own. 

The  return  home  served  to  change  his  attitude 
toward  the  President  from  that  of  merely  partisan 
support  to  an  understanding  appreciation  of  the 
obstacles  against  which  Lincoln  had  contended  and 
the  difficulties  he  still  had  to  surmount.  The  view 
point  of  the  citizen  at  home  was  far  different  from 
that  of  the  soldier  at  the  front.  To  have  misjudged 
any  man  meant  to  Burrows  immediate  acknowledg 
ment  and  restitution;  to  have  misjudged  Lincoln 
meant  a  life's  devotion  when  the  scales  once  fell  from 
his  eyes.  Into  the  Presidential  canvass  Burrows 
threw  his  whole  soul,  and  his  expressions  were  so  sin 
cere  and  heartfelt  that  they  could  not  fail  to  be  effec 
tive. 

The  political  situation  during  the  early  days  of 
Lincoln's  second  campaign  was  full  of  anxiety  and 
contained  many  unestimable  factors.  Grant's  des 
perate  fighting  in  Virginia  kept  the  North  depressed 
and  apprehensive,  for  his  movement  upon  Petersburg 
had  as  yet  produced  no  decisive  results.1  Sherman's 
campaign  in  Georgia  at  that  time  gave  no  promise 
that  its  outcome  was  to  be  so  brilliant,  and  the  raids 

i  "Grant  ordered  a  general  attack  on  Petersburg  this  morning  at 
daybreak.  Everything  was  behind.  Did  not  begin  till  an  hour  after 
daylight.  Hancock  did  not  get  over  till  after  daylight,  and  the  cavalry 
not  at  all.  Burnside  exploded  his  mine  under  the  enemy's  works,  and 


ii8  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1864 

made  by  the  Rebels  into  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania 
gave  weight  to  the  contention  of  the  Democrats  that 
the  war  was  a  failure. 

McClellan  was  nominated  by  the  Democrats  at 
Chicago  on  August  29,  1864,  only  a  little  more  than 
two  months  before  the  election.  Vallandigham 
wrote  into  the  platform  the  plank  upon  which  the 
Peace  advocates  based  their  hopes:  "After  four 
years  of  failure  to  restore  the  Union  by  the  experi 
ment  of  war,  during  which  .  .  .  the  Constitution 
itself  has  been  disregarded  in  every  part,"  public  wel 
fare  demands  "that  immediate  efforts  be  made  for  a 
cessation  of  hostilities."  Chase  had  resigned  his 
portfolio  in  Lincoln's  Cabinet,  and  a  certain  disinte 
gration  appeared  to  be  in  progress  even  among  the 
Administration  forces.  "It  seems  as  if  there  were 
appearing  in  the  Republican  Party  the  elements  of 
disorganization  which  destroyed  the  Whigs,"  wrote 
John  Hay  on  August  25,  1864,  to  his  friend  Nicolay. 
"If  the  dumb  cattle  are  not  worthy  of  another  term  of 
Lincoln,  then  let  the  will  of  God  be  done,  and  the 
murrain  of  McClellan  fall  on  them." 

As  the  campaign  progressed,  Fate  took  a  hand  in 
the  canvass,  and  Lincoln's  chances  of  reelection  were 

our  men  marched  up  to  the  crest  without  opposition,  and  then  halted. 
What  in  the  name  of  halting  and  delays  they  are  doing  now  I  do  not 
know.  I  am  disgusted !"  [  Unpublished  letter  from  General  B.  F.  Butler 
to  Mrs.  Butler,  30  July,  1864.] 


1872]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      119 

vastly  improved.  Farragut  won  the  victory  of  Mo 
bile  Bay,  Sherman  forced  Hood  to  evacuate  Atlanta, 
and  the  success  of  the  Union  arms  began  to  seem 
assured.  "Every  shell  from  Sheridan's  guns  knocks 
a  plank  from  the  Chicago  platform,"  cried  Burrows 
in  one  of  his  impassioned  campaign  speeches.  "Go 
to  the  gallant  Farragut,  who,  lashed  to  the  mast  amid 
a  storm  of  leaden  hail,  went  on  to  victory,  and  ask 
him  if  the  war  is  a  failure;  go  to  Sherman,  who  stead 
ily  advanced  the  old  flag  until  he  planted  it  on  the 
principal  stronghold  in  Georgia,  and  ask  him  if  the 
war  is  a  failure;  go  to  Grant,  who  is  cutting  every 
artery  of  the  Rebellion,  and  ask  if  the  war  is  a  failure ; 
go  to  the  gallant  Sheridan,  whose  gleaming  bayonets 
sent  the  Rebel  hordes  like  a  whirlwind  up  the  Valley, 
and  ask  him  if  the  war  is  a  failure.  Go  ask  your 
'deluded  brother'  Early,  whose  army  was  driven  in 
squads  to  the  mountains,  if  the  war  is  a  failure.  .  .  . 
The  great  battle  of  the  Republic  is  to  be  fought  at  the 
ballot-box.  It  is  for  us  to  say  whether  the  war  is  to 
go  on,  or  whether  we  shall  bring  back  that  gallant 
army  with  their  cheeks  mantled  with  the  blush  of 
shame.  Let  us  send  to  the  army  a  victory  that  it 
can  carry  to  the  enemy  on  the  point  of  the  bayonet." 
An  interesting  pen-picture  of  the  youthful  orator 
in  this  campaign  is  given  us  by  the  Very  Reverend 
Father  O'Brien  of  Kalamazoo: 


120  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1864 

"We  had  heard  much  of  young  Burrows  as  a  public 
speaker,"  he  relates,  "and  had  followed  his  achieve 
ments  in  the  army  during  the  Civil  War;  but  our 
first *  meeting  was  in  Monroe,  my  old  home,  in  the 
Fall  of  1864.  It  was  during  President  Lincoln's 
second  campaign  that  he  was  announced  as  the  lead 
ing  speaker  at  one  of  the  old-fashioned  mass  meet 
ings.  Monroe  County  had  always  been  Democratic. 
Burrows'  fame  as  a  vote-maker  preceded  him,  and  the 
Democratic  Party,  in  order  to  offset  the  affair,  deter 
mined  to  have  the  greatest  meeting  of  the  year  on  the 
same  day.  Having  control  of  the  county,  they  man 
aged  to  secure  the  public  square  adjoining  the  court 
house,  where  all  such  meetings  were  held.  There 
came  near  being  a  clash.  The  Republicans  had 
come  from  every  quarter  of  the  county.  They  assem 
bled  in  the  square  adjoining  the  old  Episcopal 
church,  where  the  hotel  now  stands,  which  is  diag 
onally  across  from  the  court-house  square.  Bands 
attempted  to  drown  the  speakers  alternately. 

"Word  came  that  Burrows'  train  was  delayed. 
The  Democrats  apparently  seemed  to  have  won  the 
day,  and  a  lot  of  disheartened  members  of  the  new 
Party  awaited  the  arrival  of  the  train.  About  half 

i  Father  O'Brien  followed  Burrows'  career  from  this  point  for  many 
years  with  deep  personal  interest  and  friendship,  and  did  much  to  win 
Catholic  support  for  him  in  his  political  campaigns. 


1872]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      121 

past  four  it  backed  down  the  track  from  Petersburgh, 
the  Lake  Shore  Railroad  running  through  the  center 
of  the  city.  Courage  came  to  the  Republicans  with 
the  sight  of  the  train,  and  the  loiterers  became  very 
active.  The  distinguished  speaker  disembarked,  and 
was  escorted  amid  cheers  to  the  steps  of  the  church. 
Then  the  battle  began.  The  Democratic  Party  at 
tempted  to  keep  the  crowd  and  drown  the  speaker's 
voice,  but  it  was  no  use.  That  magnificent  voice  of 
those  days  resounded  above  the  din  of  cheers  and  the 
noise  of  the  band,  and  it  was  not  long  before  the 
Democratic  speaker  found  himself  surrounded  by 
scarcely  a  dozen.  The  whole  crowd  had  flocked  over 
to  hear  the  brilliant  young  orator. 

"It  was  a  very  warm  afternoon.  In  the  midst  of 
his  speech,  Burrows  took  off  his  coat,  remarking  that 
the  'zeal  of  the  cause  had  so  enthused  him  that  he 
desired  to  be  unhampered  in  his  onslaught  of  the 
Democrats,  as  he  intended  to  make  it  as  hot  as  eternal 
perdition  for  all  the  enemies  of  Lincoln.'  This  was 
a  'stunt'  unknown  in  those  days  in  that  section,  and 
if  he  ever  scored  a  success  it  was  at  that  time.  The 
crowd  went  wild  with  enthusiasm,  and  it  was  some 
moments  before  he  could  continue.  'He  came,  he 
spoke,  he  conquered.'  No  man  ever  scored  a  greater 
victory.  Well  do  we  remember  the  old  farmers' 
antics  of  joy,  tossing  up  their  hats  and  jumping  about 


122  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1864 

the  ground  as  he  finished  his  discourse.  It  was  with 
great  difficulty  that  he  succeeded  in  getting  back  to 
the  car.  He  had  to  "shake'  with  every  one,  and  al 
though  the  whistle  kept  tooting  and  the  bell  a-ring- 
ing,  yet  they  desired  to  hold  him.  Finally  he 
boarded  the  rear  platform  of  the  coach,  and  was 
forced  to  make  another  five-minute  speech.  It  was 
with  difficulty  that  the  train  got  through  the  mass  of 
humanity  that  hung  around  that  car.  Burrows  be 
came  our  idol  from  that  day,  and  has  been  such  ever 


since." 


Lincoln  was  reelected,  and  delivered  his  second 
inaugural  on  March  4,  1865.  Only  a  little  more 
than  a  month  later  Lincoln  lay  dead,  and  the  country 
sobbed  over  his  bier.  When  the  people  of  Kala- 
mazoo,  in  common  with  the  sorrowing  multitudes 
throughout  the  Nation,  wished  to  make  public  demon 
stration  of  their  grief,  it  was  to  Burrows — veteran  sol 
dier  and  seasoned  patriot  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight ! 
— that  they  turned  for  spokesman.  These  extracts 
are  given  not  only  as  a  link  in  the  National  story 
which  runs  through  these  pages,  but  also  as  an  early 
example  of  the  man's  oratorical  powers.  In  this 
Eulogy,  delivered  on  June  1,  1865,  Burrows  says  in 
part: 

"The  fourteenth  day  of  April,  eighteen  hundred 
and  sixty-five,  is  a  day  ever  to  be  remembered,  not 


1872]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      123 

only  in  the  history  of  our  own  country  but  in  the 
annals  of  the  whole  civilized  world.  It  will  stand 
firm  and  erect  amid  the  leaning  ruins  of  time,  and 
fling  its  gloomy  shadow  far  down  the  untrodden  path 
way  of  the  ages.  It  was  a  day  of  National  exultation. 
The  morning  sun  was  hailed  with  the  thundering  of 
cannon,  the  waving  of  banners,  and  the  echoing  and 
re-echoing  shouts  of  rejoicing  millions.  A  new-born 
halo  of  light  blazed  around  our  starlit  flag,  beneath 
which  illumination  every  loyal  American  citizen  from 
ocean  to  ocean,  from  lake  to  gulf,  was  walking  in  the 
consciousness  of  a  just  pride.  The  trained  armies  of 
the  Rebellion,  with  their  acknowledged  Chieftain, 
which  for  more  than  four  years  had  resisted  the 
authority  of  the  Government  and  defied  its  power, 
were  reeling  backward,  broken  and  overthrown,  and 
kneeling  for  mercy  at  our  feet.  Their  defiant  cities, 
with  their  almost  impregnable  fortified  capital,  re 
sounded  with  the  tread  of  our  conquering  legions  and 
the  melody  of  our  National  airs.  Maid  and  matron, 
with  light  heart  and  joyous  song,  were  weaving  gar 
lands  of  triumph  to  pave  the  pathway  of  our  return 
ing  heroes.  The  representative  heads  of  this  foul 
conspiracy  were  flying  in  ignominious  haste  over  the 
ruins  of  their  desolate  homes,  and  from  beneath  the 
tottering  pillars  of  the  Confederacy.  Over  the  land 
and  over  the  sea,  up  from  the  triumphant  army  and 


124  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1864 

navy,  came  the  glad  shout  of  victory,  which  waiting 
millions  caught  and  echoed  back  from  the  hills  of 
New  England  to  the  sea-girt  shores  of  the  distant 
West.  The  National  ensign,  that  emblem  of  our 
pride  and  prowess,  which  four  years  before  went  down 
over  shattered  Sumter  amid  the  bowlings  of  treason, 
was  again  floating  in  triumph  above  the  altar  where  it 
first  fell.  A  Nation  rose  up  to  give  it  greeting. 
Redeemed  and  disenthralled  humanity  with  tears  of 
gratitude  gazed  upon  its  stars  of  hope.  The  heavy 
clouds  of  war  were  breaking  away  upon  the  National 
horizon,  and  the  sunlight  of  returning  peace  was  play 
ing  at  the  portals  of  the  Republic. 

"Night  closed  upon  this  great  day  of  National 
jubilee.  A  sense  of  public  and  personal  security  per 
vaded  every  breast  within  our  borders;  but  ere  the 
last  sounds  of  National  rejoicing  had  died  away  upon 
our  ears,  while  the  pulse  was  yet  throbbing  with  a 
high  enthusiasm,  the  wild  cry  of  assassination  rang 
upon  the  startled  air,  and  Abraham  Lincoln,  whose 
name  was  upon  every  tongue,  lay  with  gaping  wounds 
bleeding  and  dying  in  the  National  capital.  At  the 
very  moment  when  treason  was  sinking  to  its  unholy 
tomb — when  we  thought  it  beyond  even  the  attempt 
at  resistance, — in  its  very  death  agony, — it  lifted  its 
blood-clotted  hand,  and,  reaching  backward  beyond 
the  wall  of  bayonets  that  hemmed  it  in,  struck  down 


1872]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      125 

the  Nation's  idol,  and  fell  back  to  its  grave  hissing, 
'The  South  is  avenged !'  The  blow  was  given  not  for 
victory,  or  in  the  hope  of  National  triumph,  but  in  the 
fell  spirit  of  a  merciless  revenge, — the  fit  culminating 
act  of  rebellious,  bloody  tragedy. 

"A  sob  of  National  sorrow  went  moaning  over  the 
land.  The  sad  intelligence  was  borne  on  the  wings 
of  lightning  to  every  home  and  every  heart.  The 
stoutest  were  overwhelmed  and  appalled.  Men  for 
got  their  accustomed  duties.  We  tremblingly  took 
each  other  by  the  hand,  and  with  tearful  eye,  pallid 
cheek,  and  quivering  lip,  attempted  the  story  of  our 
grief,  but  turned  away — silent,  speechless,  mute. 
The  drapery  of  sorrow  shrouded  every  home.  The 
National  ensign  hung  low,  burdened  with  the  symbol 
of  its  grief.  Credulity  staggered  at  the  thought  of 
such  a  bloody  deed.  We  would  not  believe  that  he 
who  had  guided  us  with  such  fidelity  through  these 
dark  days,  that  he  in  whom  the  affections  of  the  Amer 
ican  people  were  centered,  who  was  just  reaching  to 
grasp  the  goal  for  which  he  had  struggled,  had 
fallen.  .  .  . 

"It  is  an  established  fact  of  history  that  the 
fearful  contest  in  which  we  have  been  engaged,  and 
from  which  we  are  just  emerging,  has  been  a  struggle 
between  constitutional  liberty  and  constitutional 
tyranny.  Between  freedom  and  oppression.  Upon 


126  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1864 

the  one  hand  has  been  arrayed  the  stalwart  millions 
of  the  free  North,  whose  shield  was  the  Constitution, 
whose  helmet  was  the  flag  of  our  fathers,  and  whose 
battle  cry  was  'Liberty  and  Union.'  Upon  the  other 
hand  were  those  who  had  supplanted  that  Constitu 
tion  and  that  flag,  and  would  erect  the  ill-shaped 
fabric  of  an  aristocratic  government  upon  their  sacred 
ruins.  From  the  foundation  of  the  Government 
there  has  been  an  uninterrupted  contest  between  free 
dom  and  slavery,  between  right  and  wrong.  All  the 
power  of  legislative  wisdom  has  been  exhausted  to 
chain  these  opposing  elements.  But  they  were  such 
implacable  foes,  so  diametrically  opposed  that  they 
cannot  be  controlled,  they  cannot  breathe  the  same 
free  air,  they  cannot  sleep  under  the  shadow  of  the 
same  star-lit  flag.  When  Liberty  raised  its  sacred 
voice  in  the  council  chambers  of  the  Nation,  Slavery's 
bludgeon  silenced  it.  When  Freedom  flung  her 
mantle  around  an  infant  Territory,  the  germ  of  sleep 
ing  empire,  the  vulture  Slavery  shrieked,  hawked  at 
her  garments,  and  dabbled  them  with  blood.  Such 
was  the  fearful  contest  until  it  culminated  in  open 
civil  war.  No  sooner  had  Abraham  Lincoln  assumed 
the  reins  of  Government  than  he  was  beset  by  two 
factions  who  urged  upon  him  the  adoption  of  en 
tirely  different  policies.  The  one,  composed  of  those 
who  regarded  the  law  of  slavery  as  paramount  to  the 


1872]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      127 

Constitution,  and  the  rights  of  slavery  as  the  most 
sacred  of  all  the  rights  which  are  guaranteed  by  that 
instrument,  would  denounce  Mr.  Lincoln  if  he  inter 
fered  with  slavery  in  any  way,  for  any  purpose,  or  at 
any  time.  The  other,  composed  of  those  who  re 
garded  the  abolition  of  slavery  as  the  one  great  thing 
to  be  accomplished  whatever  else  might  be  lost,  would 
denounce  him  with  equal  bitterness  that  he  did  not 
sweep  it  out  of  existence  the  moment  Fort  Sumter  was 
attacked.  How  firmly  he  stood  amid  these  opposing 
factions,  yielding  to  neither.  And  how  history  will 
applaud  him  for  it.  To  have  adopted  the  policy  of 
the  former  would  have  insured  the  success  of  the 
Rebellion.  To  have  chosen  the  course  marked  out 
by  the  latter  would  have  been  National  suicide.  .  .  . 
"After  almost  two  years  of  terrible  war — two  years 
of  defeat  and  disaster — the  prejudice  of  the  American 
people  was  in  a  great  measure  overthrown,  and  we 
became  convinced  that  the  Rebellion  could  not  be 
subdued  while  we  held  up  its  hands  with  the  support 
of  its  four  millions  of  serfs.  That  slavery  or  free 
dom  must  die.  How  unhesitatingly  and  boldly 
Abraham  Lincoln  chose  his  course  .  .  .  and  having 
determined  upon  it,  'he  moved  forward  without  fear, 
and  with  a  manly  heart.9  On  the  22d  of  September, 
1862,  Abraham  Lincoln,  by  proclamation,  declared, 
'That  on  the  first  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our 


128  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1864 

Lord  1863,  all  persons  held  as  slaves  within  any 
State,  or  designated  part  of  a  State,  the  people 
whereof  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the  United 
States,  shall  be  then,  thenceforward,  and  forever 
free.'  It  was  the  first  breathings  of  liberty  that  had 
ever  rung  in  the  ear  of  our  downtrodden  millions. 
For  three-quarters  of  a  century  they  had  gazed  upon 
our  flag,  the  symbol  of  freedom  to  all  but  to  them. 
It  hung  over  them  like  the  arching  of  a  dungeon, — 
its  broad  stripes  were  bands  of  iron,  its  stars  were  bolts 
of  steel.  Now,  for  the  first  time,  it  meant  liberty  to 
them.  The  issuing  of  this  proclamation  created  the 
intensest  excitement  throughout  our  own  country,  and 
engaged  the  attention  of  the  whole  civilized  world. 
The  oppressed  everywhere  clapped  their  manacled 
hands,  while  tyrants  trembled  in  their  kingly  garbs. 
The  National  sky  hung  with  an  unwonted  blackness. 
The  surges  of  opposition  rolled  mountain  high  and 
thundered  against  the  floundering  Ship  of  State. 
Threatened  mutiny  raised  its  bloody  hand  until  even 
the  friends  of  the  measure  were  terrified,  and  doubted 
whether  the  President  would  have  the  courage  to 
redeem  his  pledge.  How  little  they  knew  of  the  spirit 
of  our  Executive!" 

Burrows  found  his  legal  practice  largely  increased 
by  the  conditions  of  the  times.  He  felt  the  responsi 
bility  still  of  continuing  his  services  in  clinching  the 


1872]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      129 

victory  practically  won,  but  now  by  logic  rather  than 
by  the  sword.  In  1864  he  was  elected  to  his  first 
public  office,  that  of  Circuit  Court  Commissioner  of 
Kalamazoo  County.  He  became  Prosecuting  Attor 
ney  of  the  same  county  in  1866,  and  was  reflected  in 
1868,  but  resigned  before  his  second  term  was  com 
pleted.  He  was  an  unsuccessful  candidate  for  the 
office  of  United  States  District  Attorney  for  the  West 
ern  District  of  Michigan,  and  in  his  thirtieth  year  he 
was  appointed  Supervisor  of  Internal  Revenue  for 
Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  but  declined  that  office. 

In  1867  he  made  his  first  trip  to  England  and  to 
the  Continent,  and  on  his  return  formed  a  law  part 
nership  with  Henry  F.  Severens,  who  later  became 
United  States  District  Judge  for  the  Western  District 
of  Michigan.  The  firm  did  a  leading  business  in  the 
courts  of  Southwest  Michigan.  Burrows  excelled  as 
an  advocate,  and  was  particularly  strong  in  conduct 
ing  the  cross-examination  of  witnesses,  while  Severens 
was  an  able  practitioner,  deeply  versed  in  legal  prin 
ciples,  and  an  able  counsellor.  The  partnership 
continued  until  Burrows  was  elected  to  Congress  in 
1872. 

The  European  trip  marks  the  break  between  Bur 
rows'  local  and  National  public  life.  Only  once,  up 
to  this  time,  had  he  delivered  speeches  outside  of 
Michigan,  but  with  the  Grant  and  Colfax  campaign 


130  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1864 

his  horizon  broadened,  and  his  outlook  became  ex 
tended  far  beyond  his  own  State. 

With  his  mind  so  constantly  centered  upon  Na 
tional  affairs,  it  was  but  natural  that  Burrows  should 
early  turn  his  face  in  the  direction  of  Washington. 
The  beginning  of  his  political  career,  coming  as  it  did 
immediately  after  the  close  of  the  war,  gave  him 
ample  opportunity  to  make  the  most  of  his  undoubted 
power  of  speech.  It  was  a  period  when  men  were 
still  controlled  by  the  influences  and  effects  of  the 
long  struggle,  and  Burrows,  fresh  from  the  battlefield, 
was  able  to  feed  their  imagination  with  impassioned 
words  which  today  sound  overdrawn  and  oratorical, 
but  which  to  his  enthusiastic  campaign  audiences 
seemed  inspired. 

There  is  no  question  that  even  at  this  early  stage 
of  his  career  Burrows  realized  the  value  of  his  elo 
quence,  and  his  power  to  sway  men's  judgment  and 
to  command  their  following.  The  rich  wheat-grow 
ers  in  his  immediate  vicinity  listened  to  his  fervid 
words  with  approval,  and  saw  in  him  a  future  states 
man  who  could,  at  no  distant  date,  represent  their 
interests  with  satisfaction  and  with  credit  to  his  State. 
If  this  youthful  orator  could  so  affect  their  own  emo 
tions  it  was  a  self-evident  proposition  that  his  ef 
fect  upon  others,  and  in  their  behalf,  would  be  identi 
cal. 


1872]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      131 

The  first  testing  out  of  Burrows'  political  wings 
came  in  1870,  in  his  thirty-third  year,  when  he  be 
came  a  leading  candidate  for  the  Forty-second  Con 
gress,  running  against  the  seasoned  veteran,  General 
William  L.  Stoughton,  who  stood  for  reelection. 
Though  busy  with  his  law  practice,  Burrows  had 
always  taken  an  active  part  in  local  politics.  It  was 
his  readiness  to  assist  in  the  campaigns,  and  his  grow 
ing  reputation  as  an  orator,  that  contributed  to  the 
crystallization  of  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  his 
nomination  as  a  candidate  for  Congress. 

General  Stoughton  held  Burrows'  candidacy 
lightly  at  the  beginning,  but  as  the  campaign  pro 
ceeded  he  found  him  a  somewhat  dangerous  competi 
tor,  and  only  succeeded  in  holding  his  seat  after  a 
valiant  and  creditable  struggle.  The  Fourth  Con 
gressional  District  of  Michigan  has  always  been  ac 
counted  one  of  the  best  and  most  intelligent  in  the 
country,  and  the  voters  were  quick  to  appreciate  the 
fervid  imagination  and  the  passionate  enthusiasm 
which  controlled  Burrows  from  the  beginning  in  his 
devotion  to  Republican  principles. 

The  nature  of  the  contest  against  Stoughton  was 
such  that  although  defeated  the  younger  man's  popu 
larity  was  greatly  increased.  A  letter  published  by 
Burrows  during  this  campaign  is  an  early  example  of 
his  methods  under  fire: 


132  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1864 

KALAMAZOO,  July  30,  1870 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  my  name  is  mentioned  in 
connection  with  Representative  in  Congress  from  this 
District,  and  that  a  charge  is  made  by  one  R.  C.  Nash 
against  our  present  Representative  that  he  received 
$435  compensation  for  securing  a  place  in  the  Gov 
ernment  printing  office  for  one  Robinson,  I  desire  to 
state,  in  justice  to  General  Stoughton,  that  I  am  satis 
fied  not  only  that  the  man  Nash  is  utterly  unworthy 
of  belief,  but  that  the  charge  is  unwarranted  from  the 
evidence  he  produces.  I  make  this  statement  in  fair 
ness  to  General  Stoughton — being  unwilling  that  my 
personal  advancement  should  be  promoted  by  the 
influence  of  any  such  false  charge.  .  .  . 

His  real  opportunity  came  two  years  later,  when 
he  met  his  principal  opponent,  ex-lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor  Charles  S.  May,  in  joint  debate,  and  was  suc 
cessful  in  a  contest  over  a  man  who,  until  Burrows 
became  his  rival,  had  been  considered  the  greatest 
orator  in  that  vicinity.  May  had  done  much  for  his 
Party,  and  was  no  less  eager  for  Congressional  honors 
than  his  young  competitor,  who  now  challenged  him 
as  the  coming  Representative  of  the  District.  After 
the  longest  convention  contest  on  record,  Burrows  was 
nominated  for  the  Forty-third  Congress  on  the  one 
hundred  and  fifty-second  ballot,  one  hundred  and 


1872]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      133 

fifty-one  ballots  being  taken  without  a  single  change 
in  the  votes. 

His  first  campaign  for  himself  came  with  the  cam 
paign  of  Grant  for  his  second  Presidential  term.  It 
was  a  period  filled  with  vital  interest  and,  from  a 
political  standpoint,  definite  discontent.  The  Re 
publican  predominance,  which  came  with  the  success 
ful  outcome  of  the  Civil  War,  while  not  yet  endan 
gered,  had  been  weakened  during  Grant's  first  term 
as  President  by  the  alienation  of  influential  men 
whose  support  it  had  previously  commanded.  The 
North  by  this  time  had  come  to  realize  that  the  policy 
of  Thorough,1  put  forcibly  into  effect  throughout  the 
South  during  the  reconstruction  period  by  Thaddeus 
Stevens  and  his  radicals,  was  not  as  beneficent  or  as 
unselfish  as  had  been  claimed,  and  that  the  South  had 
a  real  right  to  its  implacable  enmity  toward  the  Party 
which  had  administered  affairs  after  the  war.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  was  only  too  obvious  that  the  con 
ditions  engendered  by  the  misrule  of  the  white  men, 
by  the  arrogance  of  the  carpet-baggers,  and  by  the 
insolence  of  the  negroes  in  the  enjoyment  of  their 
new-found  liberty,  were  such  as  still  to  demand  firm 
and  drastic  handling  if  order  was  to  be  brought  out  of 

i  This  word  was  first  applied  to  the  policy  of  Strafford  and  Laud, 
during  the  reign  of  Charles  I,  in  England,  of  carrying  through  ("thor 
ough")  the  administration  of  public  affairs  without  regard  to  obstacles. 


134  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1864 

chaos.  The  conditions  were  to  be  deplored,  it  was 
true,  and  they  were  such  as  might  easily  have  been 
avoided,  but  that  they  existed  no  one  could  dispute. 
The  South  in  its  desperation  was  meeting  injustice 
with  injustice,  crime  with  crime,  and  horror  with 
horror. 

In  1870,  an  Act  passed  Congress  placing  Southern 
elections  and  the  registration  of  voters  in  the  South 
ern  States  under  the  virtual  control  of  Federal  super 
visors  and  marshals,  who  were  given  power  to  protect 
voters  in  exercising  their  right  of  suffrage,  and  whose 
complaints  were  to  be  settled  by  the  Circuit  Courts  of 
the  United  States  instead  of  by  the  State  Courts. 
The  following  year  this  Act  was  made  stronger  by 
extending  to  these  Federal  supervisors  and  marshals 
the  power  to  protect  every  privilege  which  had  been 
conferred  upon  the  negro.  Another  Act  was  passed 
in  this  same  session  of  the  Forty-second  Congress 
aimed  at  the  crushing  of  the  Ku-Klux  Klan,  treating 
this  and  other  secret  societies  of  the  South  as  conspira 
tors  against  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  and 
imposing  penalties  of  heavy  fines  and  imprisonment. 
President  Grant  was  authorized  to  suspend  the  writ 
of  habeas  corpus  "during  the  continuance  of  such 
rebellion  against  the  United  States"  whenever  and 
wherever  it  seemed  necessary  to  accomplish  the  pur 
pose  of  the  Act,  and  the  Federal  Courts  were  empow- 


1872]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      135 

ered  to  exclude  from  juries  all  persons  suspected 
of  sympathizing  with  the  members  of  these  socie 
ties. 

President  Grant  used  these  powers  vigorously, 
beginning  in  South  Carolina  and  extending  through 
out  the  South  wherever  the  secret  societies  were  to  be 
found,  and  while  these  drastic  measures  succeeded  in 
partially  destroying  the  organized  attempt  to  annul 
the  rights  of  the  negroes,  it  placed  the  people  of  the 
South  at  bay.  Had  President  Grant  been  strong 
enough  to  stand  out  against  politicians  in  selecting 
fit  men  for  minor  offices,  and  to  ensure  to  them  per 
manency  of  tenure,  there  would  have  been  hope 
of  success;  but  throughout  his  Administrations  he 
showed  himself  incapable  of  judging  men,  and  the 
country  at  large  viewed  with  alarm  the  conditions  as 
they  existed. 

As  a  result  of  all  this  there  arose  a  definite  opposi 
tion  on  the  part  of  thoughtful  men  in  the  Republican 
Party  to  the  Administration  at  Washington,  but  the 
first  definite  organization  came  from  Missouri,  where, 
in  1870,  the  so-called  Liberal-Republican  party  was 
born,  including  such  men  as  Carl  Schurz,  David  A. 
Wells,  Edward  Atkinson,  William  Cullen  Bryant,  J. 
D.  Cox,  David  Davis,  Lyman  Trumbull,  Horace 
Greeley,  Charles  Francis  Adams,  ex-Governor  Curtin 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  ex-Governor  Fenton  of  New 


136  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1864 

York.  Less  affected  than  the  Democrats,  but  still 
sympathetic  with  the  Southern  situation,  they  further 
resented  Grant's  disregard  for  propriety  and  good 
taste,  which  they  felt  was  destroying  the  dignity  of 
the  Presidency,  and  his  inability  to  free  himself  from 
the  control  of  unworthy  advisers.  They  resented  his 
weakness  in  the  matter  of  Civil  Service  Reform  and 
of  tariff  reduction,  and  looked  upon  his  new  policy  of 
Force  in  the  South  as  an  unwarranted  revival  of 
issues  which,  for  the  good  of  the  country  as  a  whole, 
should  be  forgotten  as  speedily  as  possible. 

The  National  Convention  called  by  the  Missouri 
Liberals  met  in  Cincinnati  on  May  l,  1872,  and  amid 
high  enthusiasm  proceeded  to  nominate  candidates 
for  the  National  election.  It  was  confidently  ex 
pected  that  the  selection  of  the  Convention  for  the 
Presidency  would  be  Charles  Francis  Adams,  David 
Davis,  or  Lyman  Trumbull,  but  when,  on  the  sixth 
ballot,  Horace  Greeley  was  nominated,  it  became  evi 
dent  that  their  efforts  had  seriously  miscarried. 
They  had  held  no  hope  of  electing  a  President  at  this 
first  essay  of  their  power,  but  they  did  expect  to  offer 
to  the  country  a  candidate  of  sagacity  and  political 
strength,  and  to  take  a  definite  step  forward  in  forc 
ing  the  issues  of  the  war  to  be  dropped.  Greeley, 
however,  was  the  last  man  to  fit  into  this  description. 
Hosts  of  Liberal-Republicans,  who  had  been  most 


1872]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      137 

enthusiastic  in  the  formation  of  the  new  Party, 
promptly  renounced  their  allegiance,  and  the  North 
ern  Democrats  found  it  impossible  to  support  a  can 
didate  who  so  imperfectly  represented  all  in  which 
they  believed.  Were  it  not,  then,  that  the  Demo 
cratic  Convention,  which  met  at  Baltimore  in  June, 
found  itself  obliged  to  accept  the  Liberal-Republican 
candidates  and  their  platform,  the  contest  would  have 
become  even  more  farcical  than  it  was. 

This  was  the  political  situation  into  which  Burrows 
found  himself  injected,  now  with  a  personal  interest 
in  addition  to  his  devotion  to  the  Party  which  he  had 
always  served.  Into  it  he  threw  himself  heart  and 
soul. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  campaign  Burrows  formu 
lated  his  political  creed  by  which  all  his  later  actions 
must  be  judged.  In  one  of  his  first  speeches  he  de 
clared:  "I  am  proud  to  be  numbered  as  one  of  the 
members  of  the  great  Republican  Party,  whose  bril 
liant  achievements,  whose  grand  victories,  have  not 
only  made  it  immortal,  but  have  given  to  the  Nation 
a  reputation  and  a  name  as  wide  and  as  broad  as 
civilization  itself;  and  let  me  assure  you  that  nothing 
of  any  private  character;  no  personal  grievance,  how 
ever  great;  no  personal  matter,  however  it  may  wound 
my  pride, — nothing  shall  ever  drive  me  from  the 
ranks  of  that  grand  old  Party  so  long  as  it  maintains 


138  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1864 

the  splendid  principles  which  it  now  advocates  and 
has  sustained  in  years  past." 

To  Burrows,  the  Republican  Party  stood  for  the 
Union,  and  the  Democratic  Party  for  disunion. 
Grant  was  to  him  the  saviour  of  his  country,  and  to 
criticise  him  at  all  seemed  to  Burrows  at  that  time 
evidence  of  the  grossest  ingratitude,  and  almost  sacri 
legious.  What  were  minor  errors  of  judgment,  what 
were  individual  mistakes  in  act,  compared  with  the 
great  gift  which  Grant,  the  soldier,  had  given  to  his 
Nation!  On  the  stump  in  this  campaign  (1872) 
Burrows  gave  a  resume  of  Republican  achievements 
which  are  almost  forgotten  in  considering  the  Repub 
lican  Party  as  a  Party  today,  except  by  those  familiar 
with  its  history.  They  are  worth  recalling: 

"Four  years  ago,"  Burrows  said,  "the  great  Repub 
lican  Party  of  this  country  marshaled  its  forces  for 
victory.  It  then  had  control  of  this  Government. 
Years  before  it  had  planted  itself  upon  the  principle 
that  all  men  were  and  ought  to  be  free,  and  that  the 
Territories  of  our  domain  in  the  future  should  be 
sacred  to  freedom.  We  nominated  Abraham  Lincoln 
as  our  standard  bearer,  and  although  we  met  with 
terrible  opposition  at  the  hands  of  the  Democratic 
Party,  yet  the  American  people  were  successful  in 
that  issue,  and  by  their  ballots  placed  this  Govern 
ment  in  the  hands  of  the  Republican  Party.  The 


1872]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      139 

Republican  Party  accepted  the  trust  and  entered  upon 
the  discharge  of  the  duties  devolving  upon  it. 

"When  Abraham  Lincoln  reached  the  Capital  of 
the  Nation  he  found  the  Democratic  Party  in  power; 
he  found  a  Democratic  President  who  said  that  there 
was  no  power  in  the  Constitution  to  coerce  a  State. 
He  found,  instead  of  one  government,  two  govern 
ments  ;  he  found,  instead  of  a  united  people,  a  divided 
Nation;  he  found  seven  States  in  open  rebellion, 
organized  against  the  common  Government;  the 
Union  dissolved;  our  flag  stricken  down  by  those 
rebellious  States,  and  a  National  government  organ 
ized  within  our  own  borders.  When  the  President 
delivered  his  inaugural  address  a  rebel  flag  was  float 
ing  in  sight  of  the  Capitol  of  this  Republic,  and  a 
great  Party  said  that  we  could  not  quell  that  Rebel 
lion,  that  it  was  too  powerful,  and  that  we  had  no  right 
under  the  Constitution  to  preserve  ourselves.  They 
said  that  the  great  Temple  of  Liberty  was  on  fire  and 
that  we  had  no  power  to  put  it  out.  But  we  had  a 
President  and  a  Party  which  declared  that  it  had  the 
power  to  put  it  out,  and,  if  it  were  necessary,  to 
expend  millions  of  treasure  and  put  it  out  in  rivers 
of  blood. 

"War  came  upon  us,  and  for  four  years  the  Repub 
lican  Party  carried  on  that  war.  They  carried  it  on 
amidst  severest  trials,  they  carried  it  on  against  fear- 


140  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1864 

ful  odds;  for  it  is  a  matter  of  history  that  not  only  did 
we  fight  the  enemy  in  front  upon  a  hundred  bloody 
battlefields,  but  a  Party  at  home  at  our  firesides  was 
constantly  laboring  day  and  night  to  assist  the  men 
who  were  seeking  the  overthrow  of  our  armies  and  the 
destruction  of  our  Government.  They  did  all  they 
could  to  discourage  our  soldiers,  and  finally,  in  con 
vention  in  1864  in  Chicago,  stated  to  the  American 
people  that  the  war  was  a  failure;  that  our  soldiers 
must  lay  down  their  arms  in  front  of  the  rebels;  that 
our  gallant  fleet  must  come  back  and  anchor  in  North 
ern  waters,  and  that  the  Rebellion  must  triumph. 

"The  great  Republican  Party  met  in  its  Convention 
bleeding  at  every  pore  by  the  fall  of  two  hundred 
thousand  of  its  noblest  men.  It  solemnly  declared 
that  this  war  was  not  a  failure,  and  that  if  it  took 
every  drop  of  blood  in  our  veins,  and  every  dollar 
from  the  National  treasury,  that  rebellion  must  and 
should  go  down.  We  went  onward,  and  in  face  of 
the  violent  opposition  of  the  Democratic  Party  at 
home  as  well  as  upon  the  battlefield,  and  we  carried 
the  war  forward  until  every  armed  foe  had  surren 
dered  to  General  Grant. 

"The  war  was  over  and  we  again  elected  Abraham 
Lincoln,  but  he  fell  by  the  hand  of  the  assassin. 
Soon  after  this,  Andrew  Johnson,  vice-President  of 
the  United  States,  betrayed  the  Party  that  elected 


1872]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      141 

him;  and  then  the  Republican  Party,  rising  above 
the  man  whom  they  had  elected,  and  around  whom 
they  would  naturally  rally,  said:  'You  are  betray 
ing  our  principles,  you  are  betraying  the  country  and 
the  flag;  we  ignore  you  and  spew  you  out  of  our 
mouths  as  a  reproach' ;  and  that  instant  another  Party 
picked  him  up.  We  had  a  Congress  bold,  firm,  and 
resolute.  The  States  that  were  in  rebellion  were  dis 
organized  and  needed  reconstructing.  The  great 
Republican  Party  said:  6We  will  reconstruct  these 
States  upon  the  basis  of  loyalty;  we  must  reconstruct 
these  States  through  the  instrumentality  of  those  men 
who  have  been  true  to  the  country, — true  to  the  flag.' 
There  was  a  Party  in  this  land  who,  when  the  rebels 
had  laid  down  their  arms,  took  them  by  their  blood- 
slippery  fingers,  and  said:  'Under  the  Constitution 
and  under  the  flag,  strictly  and  legally,  these  men 
have  a  right,  although  their  skirts  are  dripping  with 
the  blood  of  Union  soldiers,  to  be  lifted  at  once  into 
political  power.'  The  great  Republican  Party  of 
this  country  said:  4No,  never!  We  will  recon 
struct  these  States  upon  the  basis  of  loyalty.'  That 
was  the  spirit  of  the  Republican  Party. 

"We  sought  to  impeach  Andrew  Johnson  for  high 
crimes  and  misdemeanors,  but  a  great  Party  rallied 
around,  shielded,  and  protected  him.  In  1868,  the 
great  Republican  Party  organized  and  marshaled  its 


142  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1864 

forces  for  a  severe  political  contest,  and  were  met  by 
the  great  Democratic  Party  of  the  North,  assisted  by 
its  Southern  allies.  We  again  laid  down  our  plat 
form  of  principles,  broad  and  generous,  and  upon 
that  platform  nominated  as  our  standard-bearer  that 
man,  the  invincible  hero  of  one  hundred  battlefields. 
Our  victory  was  complete  and  overwhelming." 

Turning  to  the  Liberal-Republican-Democratic 
nominee,  Burrows  appealed  to  the  apprehensions  of 
the  people  that  another  rebellion  might  be  in  sight, 
and  again  played  upon  their  patriotic  loyalty  to  the 
army  which  had  defended  the  Union.  A  contem 
porary  newspaper  report  of  one  of  his  campaign 
speeches  says:  "The  unapproachable  climax  to 
which  he  can  carry  the  impulse  of  patriotism  is  beyond 
analysis  and  objection.  The  newness  and  originality 
of  the  substance  of  his  discourse  is  upon  every  lip." 

"I  do  not  want  Greeley  for  President,"  Burrows 
declared,  "because  I  believe  he  is  politically  dis 
honest;  because  he  is  a  secessionist.  If  Horace 
Greeley  should,  perchance,  be  elected  President  of  the 
United  States,  I  believe  that  before  two  years  have 
passed  away  General  Grant  will  be  called  upon  to  put 
down  another  rebellion.  The  followers  of  Horace 
Greeley  at  the  South  say  the  'lost  cause'  is  not  lost, 
but  that  it  will  yet  be  revived  and  be  successful.  I 


1872]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      143 

do  not  like  the  followers  of  Horace  Greeley  because 
they  comprise  the  old  rebel-Democratic  Party. 

"Austin  Blair  says  we  must  not  go  about  'rattling 
the  dry  bones  of  soldiers  before  the  people.'  What 
say  the  fathers,  mothers,  sisters,  and  brothers  of  men 
who  laid  down  their  lives  on  Southern  battlefields? 
Lyman  Trumbull  says  we  must  'stop  yelling  about  the 
horrors  of  Andersonville.'  What!  must  the  mother 
whose  son,  shut  up  in  that  horrible  pen  and  reduced 
to  a  living  skeleton,  crawled  to  the  dead  line,  and, 
while  reaching  his  bony  fingers  across  it  to  pick  up  a 
crumb  of  bread,  was  shot  like  a  dog, — must  she  forget 
the  horrors  of  Anderson  ville?" 

Burrows  was  always  quick  to  take  advantage  of  any 
opportunity  for  good-natured  ridicule,  and  the  coali 
tion  candidate  offered  his  sense  of  humor  an  excellent 
opportunity  for  expression:  "A  number  of  very 
respectable  men,  and  some  not  so  respectable,"  he 
explained,  "assembled  at  Cincinnati  in  May  to  nomi 
nate  a  candidate  for  President.  They  did  it,  and  when 
the  child  was  born  no  one  would  admit  its  parentage. 
Schurz,  Sumner,  and  others  were  called  upon  to  look 
at  the  little  one  in  its  cradle,  but  they  would  not  own 
it.  They  turned  sadly  away,  one  by  one,  and  said, 
'It  isn't  mine.'  It  was  a  very  sickly  infant.  There 
was  no  milk  upon  which  to  feed  it  until  at  length  it 


144  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1864 

was  brought  to  the  breasts  of  the  Democratic  Party, 
and  the  command  given,  'Now  suck  or  die.' ; 

In  another  campaign  speech  he  amused  his 
audience  by  saying:  "The  position  of  the  Liberal- 
Republicans  is  like  the  conduct  of  the  steamboat 
captain  who  used  a  congregation,  assembled  to  wor 
ship  on  his  boat,  to  sink  down  one  end  of  his  craft  so 
as  to  get  the  other  end  out  of  the  mud.  The  Demo 
cratic  craft  is  stuck  in  the  mud,  and  the  Liberal-Repub 
licans  are  being  used  for  the  same  purpose  to  which 
the  steamboat  captain  put  his  devout  worshipers, 
and  when,  if  ever,  the  end  for  which  they  are  being 
used  is  accomplished,  they  will  be  dismissed  with  an 
oath  as  wicked  and  heartless  as  was  that  of  the  captain 
of  the  boat." 

The  overwhelming  defeat  of  the  Liberal-Republi 
can-Democratic  candidate  was  not  due  wholly  to  his 
weakness,  although  this  prevented  the  protest  against 
the  Republicans  from  being  sufficiently  vigorous  to 
impress  the  Party  with  the  necessity  of  immediate  and 
complete  reform  within  itself.  Public  opinion  is 
slow  to  change,  sectional  feeling  still  ran  high,  and 
the  Republican  Party  was  continued  in  power,  flushed 
with  success.  Triumph  is  intoxicating,  and  refuses 
to  recognize  impending  disaster.  When  Grant  began 
his  second  term  as  President  of  the  United  States, 
Burrows  first  took  his  seat  in  Congress. 


REPRESENTATIVE     BURROWS 

1872 


I 


CHAPTER  V 
IN  CONGRESS  AND  OUT.     1873-1878 

T  would  be  interesting  if  Burrows  had  recorded 
with  undisguised  frankness  his  first  impressions 
of  Congress  when  he  once  found  himself  a  member  of 
the  Lower  House.  Years  before,  in  the  early  Penn 
sylvania  days,  after  the  epoch-making  experience  of 
listening  to  Daniel  Webster's  speech  and  before  he 
was  ten  years  old,  he  had  been  discovered  mounted 
on  ^  stump  back  of  the  barn,  delivering  an  oration. 
The  derisive  jeers  from  his  brothers  hurt  his  pride  but 
failed  to  shake  his  confidence.  "I  don't  care,"  the 
embryo  statesman  reiterated  between  his  sobs  of 
mortification ;  "some  day  you  will  hear  my  voice  in  the 
halls  of  Congress." 

The  Republican  Party  had  been,  and  still  was,  his 
ideal.  In  his  campaigning  he  had  exaggerated  its 
merits  and  minimized  its  weaknesses;  and  to  do  this 
over  and  over  again  inevitably  resulted  in  having  the 
brief  which  he  presented  to  the  people  become  well- 
defined  in  his  own  mind.  Anticipation  had  now 
turned  into  realization, — but  the  Grand  Old  Party 
had  sunk  far  below  its  early  ideals.  It  was  incom 
es 


146  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1873 

petent  and  corrupt,  and  even  its  most  loyal  friend 
could  not  fail  to  recognize  its  decline  nor  to  appreciate 
the  certainty  of  impending  rebuke  at  the  hands  of  the 
people. 

There  is  no  question  that  Burrows  did  appreciate 
the  situation  to  the  fullest,  even  though  he  never  gave 
voice  to  any  such  acknowledgment.  It  is  impossible 
to  believe  other  than  that  his  high  ideals  were 
shocked,  that  his  ever-present  optimism  was  rudely 
shaken.  Yet  he  would  have  told  us,  with  a  sincerity 
which  no  one  could  doubt,  that  nothing  he  observed 
weakened  his  belief  in  the  Republican  Party  as  an 
institution;  that  the  very  fact  of  its  decline  empha 
sized  the  need  of  loyalty  on  the  part  of  all  true  Repub 
licans;  that  its  reform  was  inevitable,  and  that  this 
reform  could  come  only  from  within.  He  was  a 
partisan  always,  but  from  conviction  rather  than  from 
blindness  to  Party  weaknesses.  The  Republican 
Party  had  drawn  him  into  its  ranks  as  a  youth  with 
a  rekindled  conscience,  he  had  seen  it  preserve  the 
Union  and  stamp  out  the  curse  of  slavery.  The 
Democrats,  in  his  mind,  were  still  unpurged  of  their 
disloyalty  and  lack  of  patriotism,  and  at  their  best 
were  less  to  be  trusted  than  the  Republicans  at  their 
worst.  One  might  say  of  Burrows  as  Thayer  says  of 
John  Hay,  who  was  obsessed  by  this  same  indomitable 
devotion  to  the  Republican  Party:  "He  was  keen 


1878]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      147 

enough  to  see  that  thick-and-thin  partisanship  appears 
illogical,  not  to  say  absurd,  to  the  eyes  of  pure  reason ; 
he  repudiated  without  demur  this  or  that  corrupt 
politician  or  Party  act;  but  he  held  that  an  institution 
must  be  judged  by  its  essentials  and  not  by  its  details, 
especially  when  these  are  unworthy." 

Some  one  once  asked  Burrows  regarding  the  integ 
rity  of  men  in  public  life,  and  his  answer  was  given 
with  much  feeling:  "Public  men,"  he  declared, 
"are,  with  but  few  exceptions,  honest,  and  are  con 
scientiously  trying  to  serve  the  public  interest.  If 
there  are  dishonest  men  in  Congress  they  were  dis 
honest  before  they  came  here,  and  the  blame  for  their 
being  in  Washington  rests  with  their  constituents, 
who  should  have  kept  them  at  home.  When  an 
honest  man  is  elected  to  Congress  he  will  continue  to 
be  honest;  a  dishonest  man  will  be  the  same  in  one 
place  as  in  another." 

The  Forty-third  Congress,  of  which  Burrows  now 
found  himself  a  part,  was  perhaps  less  dishonest  and 
less  corrupt  than  its  immediately  preceding  body,  but 
this  was  due  more  to  the  wholesale  respect  inspired 
by  the  righteous  indignation  of  their  constituents 
throughout  the  Nation  than  to  any  real  desire  on  the 
part  of  its  members  as  a  whole  to  institute  a  real 
reform.  The  Forty-third  Congress  was  in  itself  a 

i  Thayer:    "The  Life  of  John  Hay,"  volume  I,  page  423. 


148  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1873 

remarkable  body.  It  was  presided  over  by  James  G. 
Elaine,  and  Benjamin  F.  Butler  was  the  most  con 
spicuous  member  on  the  floor.  "Silver  Dick"  Bland, 
of  Missouri,  "Joe"  Cannon,  of  Illinois,  and  Thomas 
C.  Platt,  of  New  York,  like  Burrows  became  members 
of  the  House  at  this  same  session.  It  was  a  powerful 
organization,  but  the  Credit  Mobilier  scandals, 
brought  to  light  by  the  Congressional  investigation  in 
1872,  had  left  their  taint  upon  certain  of  the  members 
still  holding  their  seats  with  full  power  and  authority. 
The  Credit  Mobilier  was  an  incorporated  body 
through  which  all  the  profits  received  from  contracts 
made  for  the  construction  of  the  Union  Pacific  Rail 
road  accrued  to  the  controlling  stockholders.  In 
1867,  certain  financiers,  led  by  Oakes  Ames,  a  mem 
ber  of  the  House  of  Representatives  from  Massachu 
setts,  and  holding  a  majority  of  the  Union  Pacific 
stock,  awarded  to  themselves  as  controllers  of  the 
Credit  Mobilier  the  contract  to  build  and  equip  a  large 
portion  of  the  road  on  conditions  which  guaranteed 
to  them  practically  all  the  proceeds  from  the  stock 
and  bonds  which  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad  created. 
It  was  desirable  to  protect  this  scheme  from  Con 
gressional  interference,  and  to  accomplish  this  Ames 
distributed  at  par  a  large  amount  of  the  stock  of  the 
Credit  Mobilier  among  his  colleagues  in  Congress, 
placing  this  stock,  as  he  frankly  admitted,  where  it 


1878]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      149 

would  do  the  most  good.  In  less  than  a  year  the 
dividends  amounted  to  about  340  per  cent.  Among 
those  who  accepted  the  opportunity  offered  by  Ames 
were  some  of  the  most  influential  men  in  Congress, 
and  as  a  result  of  the  investigation  a  state  of  corrup 
tion  was  shown  up  which  appalled  the  American 
people.  Colfax,  vice-President  with  Grant  in  his 
first  Administration,  was  seriously  tainted;  Wilson, 
vice-President  in  Grant's  second  Administration,  was 
also  affected.  An  investigating  committee  recom 
mended  for  expulsion  Oakes  Ames,  and  James  Brooks 
of  New  York,  but  the  House  merely  censured  the 
offending  members.  Patterson,  of  New  Hampshire, 
was  also  recommended  for  expulsion  from  the  Senate, 
but  as  his  term  expired  on  March  4,  1873,  no  action 
was  taken.  Many  other  members  who  were  declared 
by  the  committee  guilty  of  corrupt  acts  or  motives 
were  still  left  over  from  the  Forty-second  Congress, 
with  a  serious  stain  against  their  names  in  the  eyes  of 
their  constituents  and  of  the  country  at  large. 

The  first  measure  of  importance  on  which  Burrows 
had  an  opportunity  to  vote,  and  in  regard  to  which  he 
addressed  Congress,  was  the  so-called  Salary  Grab 
Bill.  This  was  a  proposition  brought  up  at  the  close 
of  the  previous  session  to  increase  the  salaries  for 
the  President,  vice-President,  Cabinet  officers,  judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  members  of  Congress. 


150  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1873 

The  increase  for  the  Senators  and  the  Representatives 
of  $2500  a  year  was  made  retroactive,  and  each  mem 
ber  voting  on  the  Bill  would  receive  $5000  for  his 
two  years  of  service  just  coming  to  an  end.  Defended 
by  Butler  and  opposed  by  men  like  Garfield,  the  Bill 
was  pushed  through  just  before  the  Forty-second 
Congress  expired,  and,  as  a  result,  popular  feeling 
ran  high.  Party  lines  were  forgotten  in  the  denun 
ciation  throughout  the  country  of  what  was  termed  the 
"back-pay  steal." 

This  was  Burrows'  earliest  opportunity  to  sound 
his  note  for  the  reform  of  the  Republican  Party  and 
to  put  on  record  his  high  principles  of  integrity  which 
characterized  his  position  on  every  question  through 
out  his  long  service.  Many  of  the  members  who 
joined  in  the  successful  effort  to  restore  the  salaries 
to  the  original  figures  were  undoubtedly  influenced 
by  the  unqualified  criticism  of  their  constituents,  but 
Burrows  had  only  his  convictions  and  his  conscience 
to  consider.  He  expressed  himself  with  clearness 
and  firmness  in  his  maiden  speech,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  said: 

"If  the  passage  of  the  salary  law  of  March  3,  1873, 
was  so  obnoxious  to  the  American  people  and  fraught 
with  such  disastrous  consequences  to  the  Republican 
Party,  this  protracted  discussion  over  a  proposition 
for  its  repeal,  this  hesitancy  and  debate,  will  only 


1878]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      151 

serve  to  heighten  that  odium  and  enhance  that  peril. 
The  longer  this  discussion  continues  the  less  con 
fidence  will  the  people  have  in  the  sincerity  of  our 
professions  or  the  good  faith  of  our  ultimate  action. 
The  longer  we  postpone  a  vote  upon  some  measure 
embodying  substantial  repeal  the  less  will  be  the 
merit  accorded  to  our  future  conduct.  That  action, 
which  in  the  beginning  would  have  been  regarded  as 
an  evidence  of  public  virtue,  may  be  so  delayed  as  to 
be  looked  upon  as  inspired  only  by  public  necessity. 
If  we  hesitate  much  longer,  when  we  do  vote  for 
repeal,  I  fear  the  people  will  say  of  us  as  was  said  of 
Ca3sar  when  he  put  aside  the  proffered  crown,  'He 
would  fain  have  had  it.  He  was  very  loath  to  lay  his 
fingers  off  it.'  " 

The  financial  panic  of  September,  1873,  and  its 
effect  upon  the  industrial  condition  of  the  country, 
forced  the  political  and  social  condition  of  the  South, 
still  unfortunate  and  unsatisfactory,  into  the  back 
ground,  and  Congress  was  concerned  for  a  time  with 
efforts  to  relieve  the  distress  of  commercial  interests. 
One  of  the  suggestions  was  a  proposition  to  increase 
the  amount  of  greenbacks  in  circulation,  but  this, 
known  as  the  "Inflation  Bill,"  1  was  vetoed  by  Presi 
dent  Grant,  and  a  compromise  was  effected,  fixing 
the  maximum  at  the  amount  actually  in  circulation. 

iSee  also  page  322. 


152  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1873 

This  compromise  left  bad  feeling  on  both  sides,  the 
"hard  money"  members  being  squarely  aligned 
against  the  "soft  money"  l  members.  Burrows'  posi 
tion  on  this  Bill  was  influenced  by  that  taken  by  Sena 
tor  Ferry,  of  Michigan,  and  the  young  Representative 
made  a  stirring  speech  in  favor  of  the  "blood-stained" 
greenback.  This  was  later  to  operate  against  him 
politically,  as  hosts  of  Western  voters  became  alien 
ated  from  the  Republican  Party,  looking  upon  the  Na 
tional  Bank  System  as  a  device  catering  solely  to  the 
advantage  of  Eastern  financiers.  With  this  weaken 
ing  of  Party  strength  came,  during  1874,  further 
revelations  of  corruption  which  reflected  upon  the 
Administration.  Investigations  became  the  order  of 
the  day,  and  Grant's  blind  devotion  to  his  friends  in 
spite  of  the  revelations  caused  further  rumblings  of 
discontent.  Many  influential  men  in  the  Republican 
Party  came  to  believe  that  the  influences  which  con 
trolled  Grant  were  distinctly  against  the  best  interests 
of  the  country  at  large,  and  the  President's  final 
abandonment  of  Civil  Service  Reform  intensified  this 
impression. 

During  this  first  term  of  Congress,  Burrows  took 
part  in  the  debate  upon  a  House  Bill  to  regulate  com 
merce  among  the  States  when  carried  on  by  railroad 

i  The  term  "soft  money"  included  the  doctrines  of  all  who  opposed 
specie  or  hard  money  as  the  basis  of  the  monetary  system. 


1878]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      153 

corporations  existing  by  virtue  of  State  law.  His 
speech  was  delivered  on  March  14,  1874,  an^ 
stamped  him  at  once  as  a  profound  constitutional 
lawyer.  It  was  in  the  beginnings  of  the  discussion 
of  this  subject,  later  to  become  so  important;  the  field 
was  new,  and  its  leading  principles  remained  to  be 
developed.  Burrows'  speech  dwelt  upon  the  essen 
tial  features  of  this  question,  and  demonstrated  its 
essential  principles  as  they  are  understood  today  after 
the  subject  has  received  incessant  investigation.  His 
argument  was,  first,  that  control  of  the  subject  lay  in 
Congress  and  nowhere  else,  that  the  power  of  Con 
gress  in  the  premises  was  ample,  absolute,  exclusive, 
and  supreme.  A  long  line  of  authorities  and  de 
cisions  in  the  upper  courts,  bearing  upon  the  point, 
were  grouped  in  this  speech,  establishing  the  power 
of  Congress  beyond  all  doubt.  The  limitations  on 
the  action  of  Congress  in  the  jurisdiction  of  the  State 
over  all  commerce  not  extending  past  its  boundaries 
was  also  fully  established.  It  was  made  clear,  as  a 
fundamental  principle,  that  the  authority  of  Congress 
could  not  be  construed  as  limited  to  navigation,  as  the 
railroad  interests  had  proposed;  and,  moreover,  that 
it  was  the  function  of  Congress,  when  the  occasion  for 
its  exercise  arose,  to  bring  the  transportation  tariffs 
under  principles  of  law  conforming  to  the  public 
interest. 


154  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1873 

As  this  was  an  entirely  new  branch  of  statecraft, 
the  question  had  to  be  treated  under  the  authorization 
of  the  Constitution,  and  it  was  necessary  to  adapt  the 
provisions  on  this  subject  to  a  branch  of  the  public 
interest  not  dreamed  of  at  the  time  the  Constitution 
was  framed.  Garfield  said  of  Burrows'  argument: 
"It  is  a  white  light  that  will  clearly  guide  and  mark  the 
course  of  railroad  legislation  for  all  time  to  come." 
It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  position  taken  by 
Burrows  over  forty  years  ago  is  exactly  that  more 
recently  taken  by  Roosevelt,  Knox,  and  other  authori 
ties. 

Burrows  was  allied  with  the  Radicals  and  hope 
lessly  in  the  minority  in  the  second  session  of  the 
Forty-third  Congress,  and  the  only  measure  which 
they  succeeded  in  passing  in  the  face  of  opposition  by 
Democrats  and  moderate  Republicans  was  an  amend 
ment  to  the  original  Civil  Rights  Bill,  and  in  this 
Burrows  took  active  part.  This  had  been  Sumner's 
pet  measure  just  before  his  death;  in  fact,  on  his 
death-bed  Sumner  secured  from  E.  Rockwood  Hoar  a 
promise  to  push  the  Bill  through.  In  brief,  the  Bill 
stood  as  a  guarantee  of  equal  rights  to  the  negroes  in 
all  hotels,  places  of  amusement,  and  public  convey 
ances,  and  forbade  their  exclusion  from  juries. 
Several  Republican  States  had  already  begun  to  con 
duct  their  common  schools  on  a  basis  of  equality,  and 


1878]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      155 

the  plan  was  furnishing  its  own  justification.  The 
powerful  necessity  for  securing  the  utmost  diffusion 
of  intelligence  in  the  old  slave  States,  and  the  cer 
tainty  that  division  of  educational  resources  among 
two  sets  of  schools  would  defeat  the  ends  aimed  at  in 
the  case  of  the  colored  people,  were  used  to  strong 
effect  in  Burrows'  speech.1  He  believed  that  its 
passage  was  absolutely  essential  to  a  full  expression 
of  the  obligations  assumed  by  the  Republican  Party 
with  the  successful  outcome  of  the  war. 

"Shall  it  be  said,"  he  cried  passionately  on  the 
floor,  "that  this  grand  Party,  which  with  determined 
courage  beat  back  the  propagandists  of  the  slave 
power  in  their  encroachments  upon  our  territory, 
unfurled  the  banner  of  liberty  and  equality,  and 
achieved  the  victory  of  i860;  hewed  with  gleaming 
swords  the  fetters  from  four  millions  of  bondsmen; 
wiped  from  the  Constitution  the  last  recognition  of 
the  rights  of  man  to  hold  property  in  man ;  and  placed 
all  upon  an  equality  before  the  law — shall  it  now  be 
said  that  this  Party  falters  and  fails  before  a  proposi 
tion  to  protect  the  black  man  in  the  simplest  yet  most 
sacred  rights  of  American  citizenship?  I  cannot,  I 
will  not  believe  it.  For  myself,  I  will  never  be  guilty 
of  such  shameless  treachery,  nor  lower  the  standard 
of  their  defense  one  inch  from  its  lofty  bearing.  By 

i  February  5,  1875. 


156  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1873 

their  unswerving  loyalty  in  the  midst  of  treason;  by 
their  patient  endurance  in  camp  and  on  the  march; 
by  their  fidelity,  which  knew  no  treachery;  by  their 
heroism  in  battle,  which  made  them  insensible  to 
danger;  by  their  devotion  to  the  Republic  in  the  hour 
of  its  supremest  peril,  and  in  the  name  of  the  Con 
stitution  of  my  country,  upon  which  they  stand  secure, 
I  demand  for  them  equal  civil  rights  and  equal  pro 
tection  wherever  the  shadow  of  our  banner  falls." 

With  the  passing  of  the  Civil  Rights  Bill  the  long 
record  of  partisan  legislation  on  reconstruction  came 
to  an  end. 

Burrows'  speech  in  support  of  this  Bill  attracted 
wide  attention,  and  marked  the  beginning  of  his 
National  reputation  as  an  orator.  Letters  of  con 
gratulation  poured  in  on  him,  but  none  pleased  him 
more  than  one  received  from  his  brother  Jerome. 

From  Jerome  Bonaparte  Burrows 

PAINESVILLE,  OHIO,  February  7,  1875 

I  had  the  satisfaction  of  reading  in  my  New  York 
Tribune  this  morning  that  you  had  apparently  made  a 
good  hit  by  your  speech  on  the  Civil  Rights  Bill.  I 
read  the  Tribune  extract  or  report  of  your  remarks, 
but  could  get  no  idea  as  to  their  merit.  It  would  be 
precisely  like  trying  to  pass  on  some  effort  of  my  own. 
I  can  only  say  that  the  remarks  were  followed  by  "ap 
plause"  from  floor  and  gallery,  and  by  warm  con- 


1878]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      157 

gratulations  of  Republican  members.  That  satisfied 
and  gratified  me  to  such  an  extent  that  I  wept  for 
joy.  I  write  now  to  send  my  congratulations  and 
joy  for  your  success.  .  .  . 

The  last  act  of  Burrows  in  the  Forty-third  Congress 
was  to  speak  on  the  Security  of  Elections,  on  February 
27,  1875.  This  was  a  Bill  to  prevent  the  subversion 
of  authority  in  the  States,  and  in  his  speech  he  made 
a  strong  appeal  for  the  fairness  and  security  of  the 
ballot.  In  rhetorical  effect  and  in  the  application  of 
the  needs  of  the  country  to  the  policy  of  the  Bill  it 
became  famous.  It  was  widely  published  and  com 
mended,  and  was  made  the  subject  of  a  striking 
cartoon  by  Nast  in  Harper's  Weekly. 

There  was  no  doubt  that  the  methods  employed  by 
the  whites  in  demonstrating  their  superiority  in 
Alabama  and  other  Southern  States  were  intolerable, 
yet  the  moderate  Republicans,  aided  materially  by 
Speaker  Elaine,  succeeded  in  filibustering  to  delay  the 
progress  of  the  Bill  until,  when  passed  by  the  House 
by  a  narrow  margin,  it  was  too  late  for  action  on  the 
part  of  the  Senate.  Burrows  was  stirred  to  the 
depths  by  the  coercion  of  the  blacks  and  the  violence 
at  the  polls,  and  he  expressed  himself  in  ringing 
words : 

"If  the  history  of  the  South  for  these  ten  years 


158  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1873 

could  be  written  in  all  its  horrible  details,"  he  said, 
"it  would  present  one  of  the  blackest  pages  in  the 
peaceful  annals  of  the  civilized  world.  .  .  .  Men  of 
the  South,  there  is  a  road  to  peace,  and  there  is  but 
one  road.  In  it  lies  a  peaceful  solution  of  all  our 
difficulties.  Whether  you  pursue  it  is  a  matter  of 
your  own  free  choice.  It  is  a  highway  on  which  if 
you  will  but  walk  you  will  find  speedy  and  enduring 
peace,  and  unexampled  prosperity.  Men  of  all 
Parties  can  walk  on  it,  for  it  is  obstructed  by  no  con 
stitutional  doubts,  but  is  paved  by  the  Federal  com 
pact.  May  I  point  you  to  it?  Behold  it  here. 
Strip  the  hideous  masks  from  your  outlawed  Ku- 
Klux;  disband  your  White  Leagues;  visit  swift  and 
condign  punishment  upon  your  unarrested  and 
untried  felons,  and  enforce  State  and  Federal  law 
with  a  firm  hand.  Give  to  human  life  some  security 
and  to  property  protection;  recognize  the  equality  of 
all  men  before  the  law,  and  their  right  to  its  fullest 
guardianship;  put  out  the  fires  of  your  burning 
churches  and  school-houses;  make  the  freedom  of  the 
ballot  so  secure  that  there  shall  be  no  intimidation; 
let  free  speech  be  recognized;  let  ostracism  be 
unknown;  renew  your  allegiance  to  the  Government; 
extend  a  generous  welcome  to  Northern  labor  and 
Northern  capital;  abandon  all  hope  of  the  lost  cause. 
In  a  word,  'accept  the  situation'  in  good  faith  and  in 


REQUIRED    TO    LIVE    UNDER    A 
NEW    ORDER   OF   THINGS 

F.  F.,  Esq.  "  During  Slavery,  I  ruled  su 
preme;  while  Know-Nothingism  lasted,  I 
killed  Foreigners;  in  the  War,  I  killed 
Yankees;  and  since  then,  both  White  and 
Black  Niggers;  but  now  you  are  taking 
away  all  rny  Privileges,  what  shall  I  do  ?  " 


UNITED     STATES 
MUST    GUARANTEE    A 

REPUBLICAN     FORM 

OF 

GOVERNMENT. 


NO  STATL. 
SHALL  DEPRIVE 
ANY  PERSON  OF 

LIFE 
LIBERT  Y. 


UNIANS    -   TO    SAVE    YOL'R   COUHTII 

RF   TAME 


THE    WAR     IS 
_  ,OVER.. 

SLAV  E  R  Y  i~~ 

DFAD 


IIS   JURISDICTION 

THE  EQUAL 
PROTECTION 


NAST    CARTOON    FROM     "HARPERS 
WEEKLY ' 

"  Men  of  the  South,  there  is  a  road  to  peace,  and  there  is  but  one  road.  In  it 
lies  a  peaceful  solution  of  all  our  difficulties.  May  I  point  you  to  it  ?  Behold 
it  here.  Strip  the  hideous  masks  from  your  outlawed  Ku-Klux;  disband  your 
White  Leagues;  visit  swift  and  condign  punishment  upon  your  unarrested  and 
untried  felons,  and  enforce  State  and  Federal  law  with  a  firm  hand.  Give  to 
human  life  some  security  and  to  property  protection ;  recognize  the  equality 
of  all  men  before  the  law,  and  their  right  to  its  fullest  guardianship;  put  out 
the  fires  of  your  burning  churches  and  school-houses;  make  the  freedom  of  the 
ballot  so  secure  that  there  shall  be  no  intimidation ;  let  free  speech  be  recog 
nized;  let  ostracism  be  unknown;  renew  your  allegiance  to  the  Government; 
extend  a  generous  welcome  to  Northern  labor  and  Northern  capital ;  abandon 
all  hope  of  the  lost  cause.  In  a  word  '  accept  the  situation '  in  good  faith  and 
in  the  highest  sense,  and  you  will  have  a  peace  universal."  (From  speech  of 
Representative  J.  C.  BURROWS,  February  27,  1875.) 


1878]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      159 

the  highest  sense,  and  you  will  have  a  peace  universal. 
Do  this,  and  your  barren  fields  will  stir  with  a  new 
life;  your  desolate  cities  will  echo  with  the  hum  of 
returning  industry;  your  spacious  harbors  will  choke 
with  the  tide  of  commerce.  Do  this,  and  the  whole 
South  will  spring  from  her  baptism  of  blood  into  the 
fullness  of  a  new  life,  redeemed  and  regenerated  for 
ever.  All  hail  that  auspicious  day ! " 

The  condition  in  which  the  country  found  itself  as 
a  result  of  the  panic  of  1873  proved  an  important 
factor  in  the  Fall  elections.  During  the  four  years 
immediately  preceding  there  had  existed  an  unprec 
edented  industrial  activity  and  a  corresponding 
expansion.  Particularly  was  this  true  in  the  case  of 
railroads,  which  had  been  built  far  in  advance  of 
present  requirements,  and  therefore  failed  to  yield 
returns  on  the  invested  capital.  The  Republican 
Party  was  held  responsible  for  these  unsatisfactory 
conditions,  and  the  plight  of  the  Party  was  made 
worse  by  its  failure  to  produce  campaign  material 
from  the  outrages  in  the  South,  inasmuch  as  many  of 
the  statements  were  shown  to  be  overdrawn  and 
untrustworthy.  It  was  simply  one  more  straw  on  top 
of  a  long  accumulating  mass  of  unsavory  evidence 
which  produced  a  tidal  wave,  sweeping  Democratic 
officials  into  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Massa 
chusetts,  weaking  Republican  predominance  through- 


160  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1873 

out  the  country,  and  defeating  so  many  Republican 
candidates  for  Congress  that  the  coming  House  of 
Representatives  had  a  Democratic  majority  of  nearly 
seventy.  For  the  first  time  since  the  Southern  States 
seceded  the  Democratic  Party  found  itself  placed  in  a 
position  of  equality  in  legislative  administration. 

The  Republican  Party  was  in  the  throes  of  demoral 
ization,  and  Burrows  went  out  of  office  not  through 
any  loss  of  personal  popularity  or  prestige,  but 
because  the  people  of  Michigan,  in  common  with 
other  Republican  States,  were  determined  to  place 
their  protest  on  record.  As  a  result,  the  Greeley- 
Democratic  candidate,  Allen  Potter,  was  elected  to 
the  Forty-fourth  Congress. 

The  four  years  between  the  Forty-third  and  the 
Forty-sixth  Congresses  offered  Burrows  the  longest 
consecutive  period  for  the  practice  of  his  profession 
since  entering  the  field  of  National  politics ;  but  even 
these  years  were  filled  with  political  activity.  No 
doubt  existed  in  his  mind  as  to  the  certainty  of  his 
return  to  Washington,  and  each  day's  work  was  in 
preparation  for  the  larger  activities  which  he  felt  were 
sure  to  come. 

The  reputation  of  Burrows  as  a  campaigner  came 
strongly  to  the  front  during  these  years.  His  ability 
in  this  direction  was  well  known  to  his  constituents, 


1878]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      161 

and  his  Party  leaders  were  now  beginning  to  realize 
that  these  talents  should  be  given  National  expres 
sion.  In  March,  1875,  Burrows  made  a  brilliant 
campaign  for  the  Republicans  in  New  Hampshire;  in 
May  of  the  same  year  he  spoke  in  Philadelphia  from 
the  front  of  Independence  Hall;  and  in  July  he  made 
a  stumping  tour  in  California,  speaking  with  great 
effectiveness  in  every  large  city  of  the  State. 

Tbe  early  speeches  made  by  Burrows  in  Congress 
continue  to  strike  one  as  being  overloaded  with  florid 
expression  and  grandiloquent  oratory,  and  it  is  in 
teresting  to  note  how  the  style  of  the  orator  changes 
as  the  years  advance  and  as  the  demands  of  the  people 
become  different.  Burrows,  in  common  with  other 
orators,  gave  the  people  what  they  wanted,  and  the 
style  of  oratory  may  be  followed  with  accuracy  in 
determining,  during  any  period,  the  nature  of  the 
people's  spirit.  Take,  for  example,  the  following 
report  of  one  of  Burrows'  speeches  from  the  Oakland 
(Cal.)  Transcript.,  and  note  the  fervid  expression  of 
the  daily  press  of  that  period: 

"Cold  type  and  printers'  ink  cannot  convey  the 
fiery  words  and  glowing  apostrophes  of  the  eloquent 
speaker.  It  would  require  the  inspired  pen  and 
glowing  imagery  of  an  Ezekiel  to  paint  the  descriptive 
word-panorama  of  the  orator.  He  moved  his  audi 
ence  as  the  changing  winds  move  the  great  ocean — 


162  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1873 

now  carrying  them  along  with  the  force  of  a  Gulf 
Stream  argument;  now  tossing  them  into  rippling 
whitecaps  of  mirth  and  laughter;  then  drawing  a 
picture  which  moistened  the  eyes  of  the  hearers  with 
passionate  tears,  and  again  stirring  the  vast  audience 
into  tumultuous  waves  of  applause  and  shouts  with 
his  storm  of  eloquence.  It  was  the  first  time  in  more 
than  four  years  that  the  old  Republican  fires  have 
been  kindled  to  a  blaze  upon  the  sacred  altars,  and  the 
people  wondered  that  they  had  allowed  those  fires  to 
wane  and  smoulder." 

Burrows'  political  speeches  in  each  campaign 
varied  somewhat  as  to  topics,  but  essentially  in  lan 
guage  and  expression.  The  results  possessed  mathe 
matical  precision,  but  the  presentation  of  the  material 
was  distinctly  original.  This  gave  to  each  speech 
the  novelty  of  exposition  which  served  to  interest  even 
those  who  had  previously  listened  to  him.  Burrows 
had  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  instructive 
speaker  in  the  Republican  Party.  He  possessed  a 
broad  grasp  of  Governmental  affairs;  he  had  the 
experience  derived  from  struggling  for  many  years 
with  problems  of  legislation;  he  had  knowledge  of 
current  events  and  topics  of  foreign  and  domestic 
import;  his  historical  acquirements  and  his  deep 
insight  into  State  affairs  and  into  all  the  great  ques- 


1878]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      163 

tions  of  National  policy  qualified  him  to  be  a  teacher 
on  these  subjects.  This  personal  equipment, 
together  with  his  talents  as  an  orator,  made  his 
speeches  especially  appreciated  by  men  and  women 
of  all  Parties. 

On  his  way  home  from  the  Pacific  Coast,  in  1875, 
Burrows  spoke  in  Nevada,  and  spent  a  week  in  Iowa 
campaigning  for  the  Republican  ticket.  No  sooner 
had  he  reached  Michigan  than  he  was  immediately 
summoned  to  Ohio,  where  he  joined  Hayes,  Senator 
Sherman,  Senator  Morton,  and  Carl  Schurz,  making 
sixteen  speeches  in  the  larger  cities  of  the  State.  In 
the  following  Spring  (1876)  he  opened  the  campaign 
in  New  Hampshire. 

This  was  the  year  when  Burrows  confidently 
expected  to  return  to  Congress,  as  the  Fourth  Con 
gressional  District  of  Michigan  was  satisfied  with  its 
rebuke  of  the  Republican  Party  in  1874,  and  had 
returned  safely  to  the  Republican  fold;  but  he  was  to 
have  his  first  experience  in  local  Party  treachery. 
Burrows  was  a  man  who  took  other  men  at  their  face 
value.  He  himself  was  straightforward  and  loyal, 
and  he  expected  nothing  else  from  those  around  him. 
So  it  was  that  the  disloyalty  of  men  whom  he  had  con 
sidered  friends  stung  him  far  more  than  mere  defeat. 
The  fact  that  he  made  a  memorandum  in  his  scrap- 


164  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1873 

book  at  this  time  is  in  itself  an  evidence  of  the  depth 
of  his  feeling,  for  he  was  by  nature  inclined  to  accept 
things  philosophically  as  they  came: 

"For  my  own  personal  gratification,"  he  notes,  "I 
want  to  record  that  I  was  defeated  for  the  nomination 
to  Congress  from  the  Fourth  District  of  Michigan  in 
the  year  of  our  Lord  1876  by  the  most  unblushing 
treachery  of  supposed  friends  which  has  come  to  light 
in  eighteen  hundred  and  forty-three  years.  Clapp 
and  Hull  of  St.  Joseph  County  betrayed  me,  and  while 
in  Convention  of  fifty-two  delegates  I  was  promised 
more  than  enough  to  nominate,  I  received  only 
twenty-three, — four  less  than  sufficient,  and  Keight- 
ley  1  was  nominated  by  a  trick,  a  fraud." 

Here  was  the  opportunity  for  Burrows  to  put  his 
creed  into  practical  operation,  and  he  proved  the 
sincerity  of  his  spoken  word.  "Let  me  assure  you," 
you  remember  he  stated  publicly,  "that  nothing  of 
any  private  character;  no  personal  grievance  how 
ever  great;  no  personal  matter,  however  it  may  wound 
my  pride, — nothing  shall  ever  drive  me  from  the 
ranks  of  that  grand  old  Party." 

There  was  no  evidence  in  Burrows'  attitude  that  he 
harbored  the  slightest  resentment  toward  any  individ 
ual,  nor  was  he  less  zealous  in  campaigning  for  the 
Presidential  ticket  than  he  would  have  been  had  the 

i  Judge  Edwin  F.  Keightley,  of  St.  Joseph  County. 


1878]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      165 

campaign  possessed  a  personal  interest  for  himself. 
IP  deed,  his  activity  in  his  own  State  helped  to  elect 
Keightley.  In  all  he  made  more  than  ninety  speeches 
in  New  York,  Michigan,  and  Indiana,  and  in  the  last- 
named  State  campaigned  with  Benjamin  Harrison  and 
Schuyler  Colfax.  As  to  the  effectiveness  of  his 
speaking,  Colfax  in  a  personal  letter  dated  at  South 
Bend,  Indiana,  September  6,  1876,  wrote:  "No 
speech  delivered  here  for  years  has  had  the  effect 
yours  had.  I  can  count  a  dozen  whom  I  know  of,  who 
had  become  doubtful  or  adverse,  who  were  'straight 
ened  out'  by  your  most  telling  speech.  The  uni 
versal  demand  is  that  you  must  come  here  again 
before  our  October  election,  and  your  crowd,  large 
as  it  was,  will  be  quadrupled.  You  need  not  trouble 
yourself  about  any  new  speech.  Amplified  as  it  must 
be  by  your  repetition  of  it,  it  will  suit  exactly,  and  to 
three-quarters  of  your  hearers  will  be  all  new.  But 
you  must  not  omit  about  the  Rebel  claim  titles  and 
R-e-f-o-r-m.  We  have  a  last  grand  rally  (before 
Oct.  election)  at  Mishawaka  4  miles  off,  Saturday 
afternoon,  Oct.  7th,  and  here  Monday  night,  Oct.  Qth. 
We  want  you  for  both,  but  I  suppose  that  will  be 
impossible,  delighted  as  we  should  be  to  have  you. 
But  without  fail  we  want  you  here  Monday  night, 
('the  night  before  the  battle,  mother')  and  you  must 
not  say 'No' to  that.  .  .  ." 


166  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1873 

The  Hayes  campaign  and  election,  ending  as  it  did 
in  such  a  dramatic  climax,  offered  Burrows  an 
unusual  opportunity  to  put  himself  into  his  speeches. 
It  was  a  disappointment  to  him  that  Elaine  had  failed 
to  receive  the  nomination,  but  he  felt,  as  did  others 
of  Elaine's  friends,  that  it  was  only  a  postponement 
for  the  great  statesman.  Hayes  was  far  less  able 
than  the  opponent  he  defeated  in  the  Republican 
Convention;  but  he  stood  a  staunch  foe  of  corruption, 
and  was  strong  as  a  Civil  Service  reformer.  Tilden, 
the  Democratic  nominee,  was  a  worthy  opponent,  and 
the  Republican  Party  had  given  the  Democrats  ample 
opportunity  for  criticism  and  condemnation  to  be 
made  use  of  in  the  campaign.  The  closeness  of  the 
election,  Hayes  and  Wheeler  finally  being  declared 
elected  by  185  to  184  electoral  votes,  shows  the 
intensity  of  the  campaign;  and  the  success  of  the 
Republican  Party  in  capturing  all  the  contested 
electoral  votes  introduced  an  exciting  element  which 
stirred  men  to  the  depths.  Indeed,  these  disputes 
will  never  be  settled.  There  is  undoubtedly  much  to 
criticise  on  both  sides,  but  the  discovery  made  later 
by  a  committee  appointed  to  investigate  election 
frauds  in  the  South  of  a  secret  cipher  and  telegraphic 
correspondence  between  close  friends  of  Tilden, 
which  arranged  for  bribery  of  the  returning  Boards, 
gives  historians  greater  authority  for  considering 


1878]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      167 

Hayes'  election  as  legal.  This,  however,  can  never 
explain  how  the  Democratic  governors  could  be 
elected  on  the  same  tickets  which  were  thrown  out  as 
fraudulent  when  considering  the  Presidential  electors. 

When  the  time  came  for  the  next  campaign  for 
Congress  (1878)  Burrows  was  a  more  seasoned 
politician.  He  had  made  up  his  mind  to  sit  in  the 
Forty-sixth  Congress,  and  he  did  not  intend  to  permit 
any  slip  to  compass  his  defeat.  The  ease  with  which 
he  secured  the  nomination  did  not  lull  him  into  any 
false  confidence,  nor  did  the  expressions  of  congratu 
lation  received  from  statesmen  of  National  reputation, 
who  by  this  time  had  become  his  personal  friends. 
On  August  3,  1878,  Elaine  wrote  him  from  Augusta, 
Maine:  "I  congratulate  you  cordially  on  your  nom 
ination.  Many  friends — new  and  old — will  hail 
with  delight  your  return  to  public  life.  But  the  first 
thing  to  carry  Michigan  is  to  secure  a  rousing  victory 
in  Maine,  and  we  want  you  to  lend  the  aid  of  your 
persuasive  eloquence  to  do  it.  We  want  you  to  begin 
with  us  in  Portland  Monday,  Aug.  iQth,  and  take  a 
starring  tour  of  fifteen  or  twenty  days  through  our 
largest  and  best  towns.  You  cannot  estimate  the 
amount  of  good  you  can  do.  Our  State  Committee 
are  unanimous  and  enthusiastic  for  you.  Please 
telegraph  me  to  make  the  appointments." 

Schuyler  Colfax  wrote  him  again  from  South  Bend, 


168  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1873 

under  date  of  August  9,  1878:  "Although  out  of 
political  life  myself,  with  neither  desire  nor  willing 
ness  to  return  to  it  in  any  capacity,  I  am  especially 
glad  that  one  so  admirably  fitted  for  it  by  eloquence 
and  energy,  and  who  deserved  it  so  well,  has  been 
nominated  for  Congress  in  your  district;  and  I  hope 
there  is  no  doubt  of  your  triumphant  reelection, 
although  we  hear  strange  rumors  from  Michigan  of 
doubts  as  to  the  result  in  that  once  overwhelmingly 
Republican  State.  .  .  ." 

Burrows  responded  to  Elaine's  invitation  to  spend 
two  weeks  campaigning  with  him  in  Maine.  In 
return,  Elaine  later  went  to  Michigan  and  assisted 
him  in  his  own  campaign,  visiting  him  at  his  home, 
and  strengthening  the  friendship  which  existed  up  to 
the  time  of  the  "plumed  knight's"  death.  During 
the  campaign  Burrows  made  one  hundred  and  fifteen 
speeches,  averaging  two  hours  each.  He  came 
through  triumphant,  and  was  elected  to  the  Forty- 
sixth  Congress  by  a  handsome  plurality.  Even  up 
to  the  last,  however,  Burrows  was  fearful  lest  some 
thing  might  occur  to  bring  about  a  repetition  of  his 
disappointment  two  years  earlier,  and  he  urged  Elaine 
to  come  to  Michigan  for  a  second  time.  Elaine  in 
explaining  why  he  could  not  respond,  also  gives  the 
embryo  statesman  advice  from  the  experience  of  an 
elder  statesman. 


1878]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      169 
Fro/Ti  James  G.  Elaine 

AUGUSTA,  MAINE,  November  10,  1878 

MY  DEAR  BURROWS: 

I  did  not  get  your  letter  till  the  campaign  was 
nearly  over — I  only  got  home  day  before  yesterday. 
But  I  knew  you  were  not  in  danger.  Victory  was  in 
the  air  for  you.  You  did  not  need  me!  Your 
defeat  two  years  ago  made  you  over-cautious.  In 
your  many  victories  of  the  future  you  will  have 
absolute  confidence.  My  sincere  regards  and  con 
gratulations  to  Mrs.  Burrows — and  your  daughter — 
I  fell  in  love  with  both.  .  .  . 

The  return  of  Burrows  to  Congress  attracted  more 
than  ordinary  interest,  as  he  had  already  come  to  be 
looked  upon  as  a  growing  power  in  his  Party,  and  one 
upon  whom  the  leaders  had  already  begun  to  lean. 
Moses  Coit  Tyler  wrote  him  from  the  University  of 
Michigan  at  Ann  Arbor,  on  November  8,  1878:  "I 
want  to  tell  you  that  I  am  one  of  the  many  who  rejoice 
over  your  return  to  Congress,  where  I  hope  and 
believe  you  will  have  a  career  still  more  distinguished 
than  before.  The  Republican  Party  must  and  will 
stand  steady  for  political  and  financial  honor.  Your 
recent  speeches  in  the  good  cause  I  have  heard  spoken 
of  with  the  highest  praise.  Success  attend  you." 

Senator  T.  W.  Ferry  wrote  from  Grand  Haven, 


170  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1873 

Michigan,  November  9,  1878:  "Many  congratula 
tions  on  your  splendid  success,  due  greatly  to  your 
efficient  canvass.  I  am  glad  you  go  in  with  so  large 
a  majority.  Your  thorough  canvass  has  made  you 
more  intimately  and  favorably  known  in  your  district. 
One  genial  woman  under  your  roof  will  laugh  more 
heartily,  and  win  you,  as  she  always  does,  more 
friends.  Kind  regards  to  her.  Best  wishes." 

Colfax  wrote  again  (November  Q?  1878):  "I 
write  to  congratulate  you  with  all  my  heart  on  the 
magnificent  victory  you  won  in  your  district  last 
Tuesday, — honorable  to  the  district  and  thrice  honor 
able  to  yourself.  I  know  the  odds  you  had  to 
encounter,  and  which  enhanced  the  brilliancy  of  your 
successful  campaign.  With  best  wishes  (although 
mad  that  you  didn't  come  and  speak  to  us) ." 

After  the  election  Burrows  settled  down  again  to 
his  law  practice  while  waiting  for  the  opening  of  the 
Forty-sixth  Congress,  taking  Frank  Knappen,  a  son 
of  his  former  associate,  into  partnership  under  the 
firm  name  of  Burrows  &  Knappen.  In  a  memoran 
dum  in  his  scrap-book  he  records:  "This  year 
(1878)  I  lose  a  sister  and  my  father,  so  that  I  have 
left  of  my  kin  only  five  brothers.  How  rapidly  my 
family  is  gathering  on  the  other  side!" 


CHAPTER  VI 
BACK  IN  CONGRESS.     1879-1885 

THE  experiences  of  the  four  years  out  of  Congress 
represented  Burrows'  first  real  political  educa 
tion,  and  resulted  in  making  him  more  thorough  in 
his  analyses  of  public  questions  and  more  genuinely 
effective  in  his  approach  to  National  problems. 
Previously  his  oratory  had  been  almost  too  persuasive, 
and  this  was  dangerous  to  his  own  personal  develop 
ment.  The  ease  with  which  he  had  swayed  audiences 
by  the  spell  of  his  personality  and  the  effectiveness 
of  his  eloquence  had  lulled  him  into  a  sense  of  false 
security.  A  careful  examination  into  his  speeches 
previous  to  this  time  shows  surface  excellence  rather 
than  basic  solidity. 

His  defeats  had  given  Burrows  time  and  oppor 
tunity  for  self-analysis.  He  had  learned  that  to 
produce  lasting  effects  upon  his  audiences  he  must 
not  only  win  their  sympathetic  interest  but  must 
educate  them  to  look  with  his  eyes  upon  the  various 
problems  of  the  day.  From  this  time  on  one  finds 
a  growing  mastery  of  the  causes  which  Burrows 

espoused,  and  his  appeal  becomes  correspondingly 

171 


172  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1879 

more  effective.  His  campaigning  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific  had  given  him  a  broader  outlook  upon 
life  in  general,  and  a  deeper  knowledge  of  the  great 
country  of  which  he  had  previously  spoken  with 
limited  personal  acquaintance.  An  Iowa  paper, 
reporting  one  of  his  campaign  speeches,  says : 

"He  possesses  those  remarkable  gifts  of  an  orator 
brought  by  familiar  contact  with  the  masses.  Still, 
he  is  a  man  of  polish,  with  fury,  animation,  and 
nerve  that  enable  him  to  command  the  largest 
audiences.  ...  He  made  running  comments  that 
brought  down  the  house.  With  apt  anecdote, 
humorous  allusions,  stories  that  went  straight  to  the 
mark,  he  held  his  audience  spellbound.  Facts, 
figures,  statements,  records,  presented  in  the  manner 
of  Mr.  Burrows  are  not  forgotten ;  they  are  treasured 
up.  ...  Mr.  Burrows  speaks  like  a  man  of  the 
people.  He  knows  the  beating  of  the  great  heart 
of  the  Nation.  He  has  been  deep  down  among  the 
masses  and  has  felt  the  pulses  of  patriotism  and 
devotion  to  the  Union,  whence  he  has  obtained  the 
inspiration  that  animates  his  efforts.  Filled  with 
such  inspiration,  he  electrifies  his  audience.  Forti 
fied  with  facts,  he  makes  his  logic  irrepressible.  It 
carries  conviction,  it  rivets  unfailing  attention,  and 
has  left  a  record  on  the  present  campaign  second  to 
none.  He  is  another  Ingersoll  in  his  overwhelming 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      173 

treatment  of  political  issues,  in  his  novel  and  original 
way  of  presenting  them.  He  is  always  and  at  all 
times  master  of  the  situation." 

Burrows'  facility  in  meeting  interruption  during 
his  campaigning  always  added  to  the  enjoyment  of 
his  audiences.  Once,  when  speaking  on  the  Civil 
Rights  Bill,  a  man  demanded,  in  a  thick  and  unsteady 
voice,  whether  he  thought  "a  nigger  was  as  good  as 
a  white  man."  "I  don't  know,"  replied  Burrows; 
"but  if  five  or  six  very  strong  men  will  bring  the  white 
man  up  here  we  will  look  him  over  and  tell  him  just 
how  good  he  is." 

It  was  a  different  Burrows,  then,  which  returned  to 
Congress  in  1879,  f°r  the  four  years  had  been 
momentous  in  the  development  of  his  personal  asset. 
He  found  the  Forty-sixth  Congress  Democratic. 
Randall  was  Speaker,  and  Garfield  was  the  Repub 
lican  leader  on  the  floor.  Burrows  seems  consciously 
or  unconsciously  to  have  selected  Garfield  as  a  model, 
just  as  earlier  he  had  taken  Daniel  Webster.  Like 
him,  Garfield  had  been  a  poor  boy  in  the  Western 
Reserve,  a  schoolmaster  before  he  reached  his  major 
ity,  an  ornate  speaker  while  learning  the  meaning  of 
true  oratory,  and  a  loyal  soldier  in  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion. 

Burrows  soon  made  himself  so  vital  a  part  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  that  some  one  included  him 


174  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1879 

with  Elaine,  Garfield,  and  Logan  among  "Columbia's 
four  aces  in  the  Congressional  game."  The  fact  that 
lie  was  not  a  member  of  the  Forty-fifth  Congress 
undoubtedly  made  it  easier  for  him  to  give  his  unqual 
ified  support  to  President  Hayes  in  the  crisis  which 
forced  the  calling  of  the  Forty-sixth  Congress  in 
extraordinary  session,  March  18  to  July  1,  1879. 
That  he  would  have  supported  him  is  certain,  such 
was  his  Party  loyalty,  but  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
President's  concessions  to  the  South  had  at  least 
proved  disappointing.  To  Burrows,  the  South  was 
not  yet  purged  of  her  original  sin,  and  his  high  spirit, 
born  in  the  stirring  epoch  preceding  the  war,  and 
fanned  to  white  heat  on  the  battlefield,  still  resented 
what  seemed  to  him  to  be  the  over-zealousness  of  the 
leaders  of  his  own  Party  in  placating  the  antagonisms, 
and  in  leaning  backwards  in  giving  the  Southern 
States  more  than  their  share  in  the  government  of  the 
re-united  States. 

During  Hayes'  entire  administration  the  executive 
action  was  grossly  handicapped  by  the  Democratic 
majority  and  by  the  lukewarm  support  of  the  Repub 
lican  minorities.  The  President  vetoed  the  Bland- 
Allison  Act,  requiring  the  coinage  of  silver  intrinsi 
cally  below  market  value,  yet  to  be  accepted  as  legal 
tender  for  payment  of  debts, — but  the  Bill  was  passed 
over  his  veto.  The  efforts  made  by  the  Government 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY       175 

to  retire  the  notes  and  greenbacks  still  in  existence 
were  blocked  by  the  hostile  law-makers.  But  the 
climax  of  the  antagonism  of  the  Democratic  Congress 
was  the  attempt  to  coerce  the  President  through  the 
medium  of  Army  Appropriations.  Riders  were  put 
upon  every  Bill  favored  by  the  Executive,  and  the 
most  objectionable  was  that  which  would  have  com 
pelled  the  President  to  repeal  permission  for  the  army 
to  keep  peace  at  the  polls  in  order  to  secure  any 
appropriation  for  its  support.  No  one  seriously  con 
tended  that  the  presence  of  the  military  was  intended 
by  the  Republican  Party  to  influence  any  man's  vote, 
but  rather  to  protect  voters  from  intimidation.  In 
the  deadlock  which  ensued  the  Forty-fifth  Congress 
passed  out  of  existence,  leaving  the  army  with  no 
provision  for  its  maintenance. 

This  was  the  situation  which  Burrows  found  when 
he  assembled  with  the  Forty-sixth  Congress  in  extra 
session,  after  his  four  years'  absence  from  Washing 
ton.  To  him,  it  was  another  call  to  arms,  no  less 
serious  than  the  one  he  had  so  promptly  answered  in 
1 862.  Any  disappointment  he  may  have  felt  over  the 
President's  past  actions  was  forgotten ;  this  was  where 
his  Chief  needed  his  support.  But  he  was  patient, 
listening  to  the  arguments  on  the  opponents'  side  of 
the  House  with  eager  diligence.  Some  one  once 
asked  Napoleon,  when  a  student  at  Brienne,  where  he 


176  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1879 

would  get  his  ammunition  if  he  were  surrounded  by 
hostile  forces.  "From  the  enemy,  sir!"  was  his 
prompt  response.  So  it  was  with  Burrows.  He 
heard  Turner,  of  Kentucky,  say,  "If  Mr.  Hayes  vetoes 
this  Bill  on  account  of  the  sixth  section  guarding  the 
right  of  suffrage,  then  the  responsibility  for  starving 
the  army  will  rest  on  his  shoulders,  and  not  on  ours." 
He  heard  Chalmers,  of  Mississippi,  declare,  "If  free 
government  must  die,  and  die  at  the  hands  of  such  a 
President  as  this,  then  the  Democratic  Party  can  look 
in  the  face  of  the  expiring  Goddess  of  Liberty  and  say, 
'Shake  not  thy  gory  locks  at  me,  thou  canst  not  say  I 
did  it.9 '  He  listened  to  Tucker,  of  Virginia,  to 
Blackburn  and  Beck,  of  Kentucky,  to  Thurman,  of 
Ohio,  while  they  solemnly  asserted,  "We  cannot 
yield,  and  will  not  surrender,"  "We  will  give  him  the 
army  on  the  single  condition  that  it  shall  never  be 
used  or  be  present  at  the  polls,"  "Whether  the  course 
be  right  or  wrong,  it  will  be  adopted,  no  matter  what 
happens  to  the  Appropriation  Bills."  Another 
speaker  declared,  "The  President  in  exercising  his 
veto  power  is  resisting  the  will  of  the  majority  in  Con 
gress,  and  therefore  his  wishes  should  be  disre 
garded,"  and  Burrows  retorted  with  characteristic 
wit:  "Did  it  ever  occur  to  the  constitutional  lawyers 
upon  the  other  side  of  this  Chamber  that  the  veto 
power  of  the  President  is  always  exercised  against  the 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      177 

will  of  the  majority  of  both  houses  of  Congress;  that 
until  a  measure  shall  have  passed  Congress  the  Presi 
dent  is  powerless  to  veto?  I  have  been  unable  to 
find  a  single  instance  where  any  President  ever  vetoed 
a  measure  that  had  not  passed  Congress." 

Then,  just  a  month  after  the  extra  session  had  con 
vened,  Burrows  was  ready  for  his  attack.  McKinley, 
of  Ohio,  preceded  him  with  a  masterly  speech,  but 
McKinley  had  not  just  re-entered  public  life  after  four 
years  of  patient  waiting  for  this  opportunity  again  to 
play  his  part  in  the  war  councils  of  his  Party.  To 
McKinley,  it  was  a  conflict  of  forensics;  to  Burrows,  it 
was  a  new  conspiracy  against  the  Republic.  So,  on 
April  18,  1879,  Burrows  the  soldier  again  drew  his 
sword  in  defence,  and  entered  the  battle  with  the 
courage  of  one  who  knows  that  his  cause  is  just. 

"I  have  no  disposition,"  he  said,  "to  revive  or  dis 
cuss  the  issues  of  the  war.  ...  No  sooner  had  the 
Republican  minority  of  this  House,  overborne  by 
numbers,  been  driven  from  its  first  entrenchment 
where  it  made  a  stand  in  the  defense  of  a  peaceful 
ballot,  than  it  is  again  assaulted  by  an  exultant  and 
defiant  majority,  and  forced  to  do  battle  in  the  defense 
of  a  pure  ballot.  Now,  as  then,  we  present  upon  this 
side  of  the  Chamber  a  solid  front,  confident  of  the 
strength  of  our  position  and  the  justice  of  our  cause, 
and  confident  also  that  though  defeated  now  we  shall 


178  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1879 

ultimately  be  supported  by  that  mighty  reserve,  the 
majority  of  the  American  people,  whose  invincible 
power  no  Party  can  possibly  withstand.  .  .  . 

"I  have  neither  the  time  nor  the  disposition  to 
enter  into  a  general  discussion  of  the  character  of 
those  laws  sought  to  be  repealed.  Their  nature  and 
purpose  are  well  known  to  the  House  and  the  coun 
try;  but  I  cannot  refrain  from  observing  that  if  the 
gentlemen  on  the  other  side  of  the  Chamber  are  really 
anxious  to  preserve  the  peace  and  purity  of  the  ballot- 
box,  why  attempt  to  tear  down  the  only  remaining 
National  fortress  reared  for  the  defense  of  either? 
Do  you  desire,  gentlemen,  an  honest  registration? 
Those  laws  provide  for  it.  Do  you  want  a  pure  bal 
lot?  They  promote  it.  Do  you  want  a  fair  count? 
They  insure  it.  Do  you  desire  a  true  return?  They 
enjoin  it.  Do  you  want  order  and  peace  at  the  polls? 
They  command  it.  Do  you  want  repeaters  and  bal 
lot-box  stuff ers,  thugs,  and  red-shirts  punished? 
They  secure  it.  And  there  is  nothing  in  these  laws 
that  is  a  terror  to  any  man  except  to  him  who  has  al 
ready  committed  or  is  now  meditating  some  outrage 
upon  the  ballot-box  of  the  country. 

"You  declare  that  you  want  a  pure  and  peaceable 
election ;  and  while  you  have  been  unsparing  in  your 
denunciation  of  all  means  employed  by  the  Federal 
Government  to  insure  it,  not  one  word  of  rebuke,  not 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      179 

a  word  of  regret  even,  has  fallen  from  the  lips  of  any 
man  on  that  side  of  the  Chamber  for  the  outrages  per 
petrated  at  the  polls  in  the  South,  especially  in 
Louisiana  and  in  South  Carolina,  not  six  months  ago ; 
in  South  Carolina,  where  you  carried  the  elections  by 
a  system  of  frauds  and  ballot-box  stuffing  unparalleled 
in  the  history  of  nations;  in  Louisiana,  by  driving 
voters  from  the  polls,  seizing  ballot-boxes  through  the 
instrumentality  of  armed  ruffians,  destroying  ballots, 
driving  men  into  exile,  and  invoking  that  system  of 
murder  and  intimidation  so  long  in  vogue  in  the 
South,  and  which  has  been  so  efficient  in  crushing  an 
entire  race.  .  .  . 

"When  I  read  such  a  history  and  remember  how 
you  have  overcome  majorities  in  the  South  and 
stamped  out  a  Party  in  blood,  and  made  free  speech 
and  a  free  press,  free  homes,  free  emigration,  and  a 
free  ballot  impossible  within  many  portions  of  the 
Southern  States,  I  must  confess  that  I  listen  with 
impatience  to  the  hypercritical  cant  about  peace,  pro 
tection,  and  purity  at  the  polls.  This  very  hour, 
while  you  are  professing  such  jealous  care  for  the 
rights  of  American  citizens,  a  whole  race  is  fleeing 
from  your  presence  as  they  would  fly  from  a  pestilence. 
Not  to  escape  Federal  bayonets,  but  Southern  bludg 
eons!  not  to  escape  Federal  bullets,  but  Southern 
bowie-knives ;  not  to  escape  Federal  interference,  but 


i8o  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1879 

Southern  intimidation;  not  to  escape  Federal  force, 
but  Southern  fraud;  not  to  escape  election  laws,  but 
enforced  exile;  not  to  escape  from  Federal  marshals, 
but  from  Southern  murders ;  not  from  honest  registra 
tion,  but  from  masked  raiders;  not  from  supervisors 
of  election  laws,  but  from  Southern  shotguns.  In  a 
word,  fleeing  from  a  people  and  country  where  their 
every  right  is  cloven  down  and  their  every  wrong  un- 
redressed.  When  I  hear  gentlemen  on  the  other  side 
of  this  Chamber  denounce  these  outrages  upon  a  free 
ballot  and  free  men  in  the  Southern  States,  it  will  be 
time  for  me  to  believe  that  you  are  really  sincere  and 
solicitous  for  the  protection  of  the  citizen  and  the 
purity  of  the  ballot-box.  .  .  . 

"Pardon  me  if  I  express  my  honest  convictions  that 
with  all  your  professions  you  want  neither  peace  nor 
purity  at  the  polls.  Your  chiefest  desire  is  the  elec 
tion  of  a  Democratic  President  in  1880.  By  what 
means  you  little  care.  You  want  these  laws  repealed 
because  they  stand  in  the  way  of  the  consummation  of 
such  a  purpose,  for  you  know  full  well,  and  the  coun 
try  knows,  that  if  they  are  permitted  to  stand,  and  can 
be  enforced,  and  every  man  in  this  Republic,  North 
and  South,  allowed  to  vote  as  his  conscience  dictates, 
without  injury  or  fear  of  injury  to  life  or  property,  you 
could  no  more  elect  your  President  in  1880  than  you 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY       181 

are  honestly  entitled  to  your  majority  in  either  House 
of  this  Congress  today.  .  .  . 

"Let  me  recount  a  brief  but  startling  history.  On 
the  4th  day  of  March  just  passed  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  by  public  proclamation,  informed  the 
country  that  the  Forty-fifth  Congress  had  closed  its 
deliberations  'without  making  the  usual  and  neces 
sary  appropriations  for  the  legislative,  executive,  and 
judicial  expenses  of  the  Government  for  the  fiscal 
year  ending  June  30,  1880,  and  without  making  the 
usual  and  necessary  appropriations  for  the  support 
of  the  army  for  the  same  fiscal  year.' 

"Every  statement  in  that  proclamation  is  literally 
true.  That  Congress  did  adjourn  without  making 
the  slightest  provision  for  the  support  of  the  legisla 
tive,  executive,  or  judicial  branches  of  the  Govern 
ment,  and  without  appropriating  one  single  dollar 
for  the  support  of  the  army  of  the  United  States. 
That  same  Congress  knew,  the  moment  it  adjourned, 
that  if  no  further  legislation  was  had  until  the  time 
for  the  regular  session  of  this  Congress  in  December 
next,  it  was  inevitable  that  in  less  than  four  months 
from  the  hour  of  its  adjournment  the  three  great  pil 
lars  that  sustain  and  support  the  Federal  fabric 
would,  unless  upheld  by  the  omnipotent  arm  of  a 
patriotic  people,  crumble  and  fall,  while  the  army, 


182  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1879 

disbanded  by  starvation,  would  not  be  suffered  to  sur 
vive  the  desolation  that  it  might  even  stand  guard 
over  the  sacred  ruins. 

"That  same  Congress  knew  the  moment  it  ad 
journed  that  if  matters  were  undisturbed,  that  if  the 
country  now  would  comply  with  what  Jefferson  Davis 
demanded  in  1861,  6Let  us  alone/  the  rising  sun  of 
July  1,  1879,  would  gild,  not  the  temple,  but  the 
tomb  of  the  Republic.  Had  there  been  no  Executive 
to  disturb  this  plot  the  Nation  today  would  be  totter 
ing  to  its  dissolution.  Yet,  thanks  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  thanks  to  his  patriotism  and  his 
courage,  it  is  made  possible  for  us  to  avert  so  dire  a 
calamity." 

Then  the  speaker  began  to  draw  upon  the  ammuni 
tion  he  had  taken  from  the  enemy,  and  the  Demo 
cratic  side  of  the  House  was  aghast  at  the  deadly 
effect  made  with  their  own  words.  Finally  Burrows 
summed  up  his  case: 

"The  distinguished  gentleman  from  Kentucky 
(Mr.  Blackburn),"  he  said,  "the  acknowledged 
leader  of  at  least  the  Southern  wing  of  the  Democratic 
Party  of  this  House,  took  occasion  to  say  in  his  recent 
speech  in  this  Hall  that  'this  side  of  the  Chamber,' 
alluding  to  the  Democratic  majority,  'never  means  to 
yield  or  surrender  until  this  Congress  shall  have  died 
by  virtue  of  its  limitation.9  I  have  given  his  exact 


1885]  AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY  183 
words.  That  event  cannot  happen  until  the  4th  of 
March,  1881. 

"And  so  the  order  is  promulgated  from  the  Federal 
Capitol,  in  the  face  of  this  Nation,  by  an  ex-Confed 
erate  soldier,  to  prosecute  the  siege  until  this  Repub 
lic,  which  he  and  his  co-conspirators  could  not  des 
troy  by  the  sword,  shall  be  reduced  by  starvation, 
And  no  sooner  is  the  order  given  than  the  whole 
Democratic  Party,  North  and  South,  leap  into  the 
trenches  at  the  rallying  cry  of  their  chosen  leader, 
6He  who  dallies  is  a  dastard,  and  he  who  doubts  is 
damned.'  Thus  is  the  siege  begun,  thus  is  it  prose 
cuted.  And  with  an  air  of  defiance,  smacking  a  little 
of  Southern  domination,  we  are  told  that  6the  issue  is 
laid  down,  the  gage  of  battle  is  delivered;  lift  it  when 
you  please.9  Be  it  so,  and  be  this  my  answer:  that 
it  is  our  supremest  pleasure  to  lift  it  now  and  here, 
and  we  are  prepared  to  make  good  the  appeal. 

"We  accept  the  challenge  you  now  present  in  no 
spirit  of  boastful  arrogance,  but  with  an  unflinching 
purpose  and  a  sublime  courage,  awaiting  the  issue 
with  the  utmost  confidence  and  composure.  It  is  not 
the  first  time  we  have  encountered  a  Solid  South  con 
spiring  against  the  life  of  the  Republic;  and  although 
your  forces  may  be  somewhat  augmented  by  your 
Northern  allies,  yet  I  see  nothing  in  the  increased 
array  to  cause  a  heart  to  faint  or  a  cheek  to  blanch. 


184  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1879 

As  you  failed  then  you  will  fail  now.  As  you  could 
not  kill,  you  cannot  starve.  Did  it  ever  occur  to  you, 
gentlemen,  that  although  you  should  withhold  all 
supplies  for  the  support  of  the  Government  that  pos 
sibly  it  might  yet  survive?  Did  it  ever  occur  to  you 
that  although  you  should  protract  this  siege  until  this 
Congress  shall  have  died  by  virtue  of  its  limitation, 
that  possibly  there  would  be  no  necessity  for  sur 
render?  Withhold  support  from  the  Executive,  are 
you  quite  sure  there  will  be  no  President?  Refuse 
to  feed  the  army,  are  you  entirely  certain  there  will 
be  no  troops?  Deny  to  your  navy  the  means  to  keep 
it  afloat,  are  you  certain  you  will  force  it  to  anchor? 
Withhold  support  from  the  judiciary,  is  it  clear  there 
will  be  no  courts?  Refuse  the  needed  supplies  for 
maintaining  the  legislative  branch  of  the  Government, 
are  you  confident  there  will  be  no  Congress?  Why, 
sir,  you  are  as  impotent  to  overthrow  the  Government 
by  starvation  as  you  were  to  annihilate  it  by  the  sword. 
You  may  distress,  but  you  cannot  destroy.  For,  let 
me  tell  you,  when  that  time  comes  the  same  loyal  peo 
ple  from  the  same  loyal  States  who  took  their  lives  in 
their  hands,  and  went  forth  to  do  battle  for  the  defense 
of  the  Republic,  enduring  the  weary  march,  the  pro 
tracted  siege,  the  smoking  hell  of  battle,  and  the  more 
horrible  hell  of  Southern  prison-pens,  until  from  the 
dark  waves  of  rebellion  they  bore  upon  broken  arm 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      185 

and  lacerated  breast  the  bleeding  form  of  the  Repub 
lic,  and  planted  her  feet  upon  the  immutable  rock  of 
constitutional  government  and  civil  liberty — I  say 
from  the  same  States  thirty  millions  of  people,  ani 
mated  by  the  same  patriotism,  will,  when  you  attempt 
to  starve  this  Republic,  fly  to  her  side  at  the  first  cry 
of  her  distress,  and  there  they  will  stand  in  ceaseless 
vigil,  not  with  sword,  but  with  sustenance;  not  with 
the  implements  of  war,  but  with  unmeasured  wealth; 
not  with  shotted  cannon,  but  with  unlocked  coffers; 
not  with  bandages,  but  with  bounty;  and,  bending 
over  her  prostrate  form,  will  they  succor  and  sustain 
her,  ministering  to  her  necessities,  until,  in  the  full 
ness  of  time,  they  can  wrench  from  her  throat  the 
cowardly  hands  that  clutch  it;  and  then,  thrilled  with 
a  new  life,  will  she  spring  to  her  feet,  and  the  very 
altar  you  builded  for  her  immolation  shall  become  a 
throne  upon  which  she  shall  stand,  in  the  majesty  of 
her  power,  re-sceptered  and  re-crowned,  goddess  of 
nations." 

An  excellent  picture  of  the  scene  is  given  in  the 
contemporary  press:  "If  the  speech  of  McKinley 
stirred  up  the  Confederate  animals,  that  of  Burrows 
lashed  them  into  passionate  fury.  The  countenances 
of  the  Confederates  while  undergoing  this  terrible 
ordeal  were  a  curious  study.  They  were  red  with 
anger,  distorted  by  muscular  efforts  to  hold  in  check 


186  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1879 

tempestuous  passions,  and  twisted  by  cynical  grim 
aces  of  pent-up  madness.  Only  three  or  four  inter 
ruptions  of  the  speaker  were  attempted,  the  manner 
of  his  refusal  to  be  interrupted  discouraging  a  repeti 
tion  of  them.  Only  two  or  three  times  was  the  close 
attention  of  the  House  broken  by  applause,  but  when 
he  sat  down  the  whole  Left  broke  out  in  enthusiasm, 
and  the  new-found  champion  in  debate  was  warmly 
congratulated.  Nearly  at  the  same  time  a  number 
of  wrathful  members  of  the  Right  tried  to  get  the 
floor  for  personal  explanation,  and  another  scene  of 
the  wildest  excitement  ensued,  at  the  height  of  which 
again  were  seen  the  two  long  arms  and  clenched  fists 
of  that  untamed  Kentuckian  (Blackburn),  bran 
dished  furiously  in  the  manner  of  punching  the  whole 
opposite  side  of  the  Chamber.  The  man  accom 
panied  his  bellicose  gesticulations  with  perhaps 
equally  furious  words,  but  what  they  were  no  one 
could  hear  in  the  confusion  of  tongues  and  the  tor 
nado  of  laughter  which  so  ridiculous  a  spectacle  pro 
voked." 

The  Army  Appropriation  Bill  was  finally  passed 
without  its  rider,  and  from  this  time  on  Burrows' 
local  reputation  as  a  speaker  became  National. 

In  1880  Burrows  was  reflected  to  the  Forty-sev 
enth  Congress  over  Orlando  W.  Powers,  who  later 
had  a  meteoric  career  in  Utah.  His  campaign  for 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY       187 

reelection  was  really  a  stumping  tour  for  Garfield 
and  Arthur,  and  wherever  Burrows  went  he  made 
votes  for  the  entire  ticket.  The  success  of  his  earlier 
campaign  speeches  outside  his  own  State  made  him 
much  in  demand  from  his  Party  leaders,  and  he  was 
called  into  Wisconsin  and  Indiana,  into  Maine  and 
Vermont.  In  one  of  his  Eastern  speeches  Burrows 
made  reference  to  Hancock's  famous  utterance,  "The 
tariff  is  a  local  issue."  Burrows  had  been  stating  his 
views  as  to  the  Tariff  question,  and  in  conclusion  re 
marked,  "At  least  that  is  the  way  I  look  at  it;  but  I 
will  go  home  and  ask  my  constituents  how  they  look 
at  it!" 

The  Republican  platform  in  this  campaign  was  for 
high  tariff,  equal  rights  for  negroes,  for  the  restriction 
of  Chinese  immigration,  and  denounced  the  Solid 
South;  while  against  this  the  Democrats  placed  Han 
cock  and  English,  calling  for  home  rule,  honest 
money,  tariff  for  revenue  only,  and  the  restoration  of 
American  commerce,  denouncing  the  "fraud"  by 
which  Hayes  had  been  made  President,  and  the  con 
tinued  use  of  Federal  troops  at  the  polls.  The 
Greenbackers  made  a  slight  show,  but  in  no  way  af 
fected  the  result.  From  a  Republican  standpoint, 
the  only  serious  aspect  of  the  election  was  the  abso 
lute  Democratic  consolidation  of  the  electoral  vote  of 
the  South. 


i88  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1879 

Burrows  was  present  at  Garfield's  inauguration  and 
for  the  first  time  saw  a  President  inducted  into  office. 
The  Forty-seventh  Congress  was  barely  again  Repub 
lican,  the  Lower  House  having  a  majority  of  one  and 
the  Senate  being  tied.  This  slender  advantage  was 
distinctly  favorable  to  public  morality,  as  no  member 
of  either  Party  could  afford  to  take  chances  with  his 
constituents.  Burrows  was  a  member  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Appropriations  and  Chairman  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Territories,  and  had  attained  sufficient 
prominence  at  the  beginning  of  the  session  to  aspire 
to  the  Speakership.  Most  prominent  among  the 
other  candidates  for  this  position  were  "Tom"  Reed, 
of  Maine,  Frank  Hiscock,  of  New  York,  John  A. 
Kasson,  of  Iowa,  and  J.  W.  Keifer,  of  Ohio,  the  last- 
named  candidate  finally  securing  the  coveted  honor. 
There  were  many  of  Burrows'  best  friends  in  the 
House,  however,  who  considered  even  his  candidacy 
as  a  mistake  from  a  Party  standpoint:  Garfield  had 
been  elevated  to  the  Presidency,  Elaine  had  become 
Secretary  of  State,  Frye  and  Conger  had  gone  from 
the  House  to  the  Senate,  which  left  Burrows  and  Can 
non  as  the  real  leaders  of  the  Party  in  the  Lower 
House,  and  many  felt  that  Burrows  was  too  eloquent 
an  orator  to  be  taken  off  the  floor.  His  qualifications 
for  the  position,  however,  were  demonstrated  during 
the  session  when  he  was  made  the  Speaker  pro  tern., 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      189 

and  conducted  the  affairs  of  the  House  during 
Keifer's  absence  with  rare  tact  and  acknowledged  par 
liamentary  ability. 

A  fellow-Congressman  once  said  of  Burrows: 
"He  never  takes  part  in  debate  unless  he  knows  his 
subject  thoroughly  and  has  something  to  contribute 
to  the  general  discussion.  At  no  time,  however,  is 
Burrows  caught  napping.  When  apparently  not 
personally  interested  in  a  measure,  he  suddenly  'bobs 
up'  with  some  parliamentary  question  which  is  of  in 
estimable  value  to  his  Party." 

An  instance  of  this  may  be  cited:  This  Forty- 
seventh  Congress  was  famous  for  filibustering,  and 
when,  on  one  occasion,  the  majority  of  Congress  de 
termined  to  discipline  the  Democrats  who  had  ob 
structed  legislation  for  a  week  or  more,  Carlisle,  of 
Kentucky,  in  defense  quoted  from  a  speech  made  by 
Garfield  in  the  Forty-fifth  Congress  in  reference  to 
the  rights  of  the  minority.  The  quotation  was  most 
effective,  and  called  forth  delighted  Democratic  ap 
plause,  but  before  the  echoes  had  died  away  Burrows 
arose  and  requested  Carlisle  to  read  the  balance  of 
Garfield's  speech.  This  Carlisle  declined  to  do,  so 
Burrows  proceeded  to  read  it  for  him,  showing  that 
Garfield  really  denounced  in  the  most  unequivocal 
manner,  as  revolutionary,  filibustering  in  any  form 
which  prevented  the  consideration  of  any  proposition. 


igo  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1879 

The  Democratic  joy  was  quickly  turned  to  chagrin. 

The  sanctity  of  the  ballot  box  of  the  South  was  not 
yet  respected,  and  the  Lowe- Wheeler  election  contest 
brought  Burrows  into  the  discussion  as  a  revival  of  his 
earlier  fight  on  the  security  of  elections.  Here,  how 
ever,  he  applied  himself  not  to  the  specific  case  but  to 
the  basic  principles  upon  which  it  rested.  "When 
any  man,"  he  said,  "whoever  he  may  be,  steals  to  the 
ballot  box,  where  reposes  the  defenseless  offering  of 
a  Nation's  sovereign  power,  and  takes  its  life,  he  is 
an  assassin  whose  crime  cannot  be  expiated.  This 
Republic  can  withstand  the  shock  of  revolution;  it 
can  overcome  invasion  of  a  foreign  foe;  in  can  endure 
the  murder  of  its  executive  head;  but  it  cannot  long 
survive  the  assassination  of  its  sovereign  will." 

Later,  referring  to  this  subject  in  a  campaign 
speech,  he  made  telling  use  of  facts  which  had  come 
to  light: 

"At  Hope  Engine  polling  house,  in  the  city  of 
Charleston,"  Burrows  said,  "the  poll  list  kept  by  the 
Democratic  managers  of  the  election,  the  list  kept 
by  the  Democratic  United  States  Supervisor,  and  the 
list  kept  by  the  Republican  United  States  Supervisor, 
substantially  agreed.  One  of  them  said  that  1218 
men  had  voted,  the  other  said  that  1214  had  voted; 
this  was  the  only  difference  between  them.  Taking 
the  name  of  every  voter  as  he  deposited  his  ballot, 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      191 

the  list  only  differed  four  names.  Either  1214  or 
1218  men  had  voted.  Now,  after  every  vote  had 
been  cast,  you  would  expect  to  find  in  that  box  either 
1214  or  I2l8  ballots;  but  at  sundown,  when  the 
proclamation  was  made  that  the  poll  had  closed,  the 
box  was  opened,  the  ballots  put  upon  the  table  and 
counted,  and  there  were  found  to  be  just  2289  votes. 
It  was  not  much  of  a  day  for  voting  either.  Just 
1071  more  votes  in  the  box  than  there  were  voters 
all  told!  The  Democratic  Party  of  this  Nation  de 
clared,  6You  shall  not  exercise  your  right  to  inquire 
into  that  practice.'  Another  peculiar  thing  about 
the  count,  or  about  the  ballots,  was  this:  that  of  the 
2289  votes  in  the  box,  1683  were  straight  Demo 
cratic  ballots.  This  was  465  more  Democratic  votes 
in  the  ballot  box  than  there  were  voters  in  the  polling 
place.  Yet  the  Democratic  Party  said,  'You  shall 
not  inquire  into  this  matter.9  They  said,  'We  will 
do  the  fair  thing,  and  we  will  draw  out  the  excess  to 
show  the  people  that  we  take  no  unfair  advantage.' 
So  they  blindfolded  a  Democrat  and  told  him  to  draw. 
That  was  not  fair.  What  ought  to  have  been  done  in 
that  case  was  to  paralyze  the  Democrat  so  that  he 
could  not  feel,  as  one  of  the  ballots  was  wider  than 
the  other.  But,  to  make  a  show  of  honesty,  they 
blindfolded  him,  and  then  allowed  him  to  draw  out 
the  ballots.  When  put  on  the  stand,  he  testified  that 


192  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1879 

he  drew  out  every  Republican  ballot  except  two. 
They  asked  him  why  he  did  not  draw  those  out,  and 
he  said  he  could  not  find  them.  Yet  the  National 
Democratic  Party  declares,  'You  shall  not  inquire 
into  such  a  case,  you  shall  not  consider  it.' ' 

When  Burrows  referred  to  "the  murder  of  the 
Republic's  executive  head,"  he  had  in  mind  the  recent 
tragedy  of  Garfield's  assassination.  His  relations 
with  the  Ohio  statesman  had  ripened  into  the  closest 
friendship  during  the  years  they  were  together  in  the 
House,  and  Garfield's  death  was  a  personal  blow 
from  which  he  was  slow  to  recover. 

The  first  Bill  which  Burrows  personally  brought  to 
the  attention  of  the  House  was  that  to  prevent  patent 
rights  extortion,  which  was  of  particular  importance 
to  the  farmers.  There  existed  at  this  time  a  well- 
organized  system  of  blackmail  whereby  innocent  pur 
chasers  of  patented  articles  throughout  the  Western 
States  were  subjected  to  damage  suits  brought  by 
parties  whose  claims  to  the  patents  were  never  estab 
lished.  A  farmer  would  purchase  barbed  wire, 
driven-well  cases,  and  other  farm  necessities  from 
traveling  salesmen,  and  later,  agents  of  the  so-called 
owners  of  the  patent  rights  would  appear,  demanding 
back  royalties.  In  the  majority  of  cases  the  farmers 
were  unable  successfully  to  defend  what  they  be 
lieved  to  be  their  rights,  and  were  forced  to  submit 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY       193 

to  unwarranted  levies.  The  Burrows'  Bill  for  their 
protection  was  passed,  and  proved  of  great  value  to 
the  agricultural  interests  of  the  country. 

It  was,  however,  the  Edmunds  Anti-Polygamy  Bill 
which  most  attracted  Burrows'  interest,  and  it  was  in 
this  session  that  he  sounded  the  first  note  of  construc 
tive  antagonism  to  Mormonism  which  culminated  in 
his  masterly  handling  of  the  famous  Smoot  case  in 
the  Senate  many  years  later.1  The  discussion 
started  on  a  question  as  to  the  legal  right  of  Campbell, 
of  Utah,  to  take  his  seat  in  the  House  with  the  creden 
tials  which  he  presented;  but  Burrows  saw  an  oppor 
tunity  to  strike  Mormonism  a  decisive  blow,  and  he 
was  not  slow  to  follow  up  his  advantage.  He  intro 
duced  a  Bill  providing  that  no  man  guilty  of  bigamy 
or  polygamy  should  be  eligible  to  a  seat  in  the  House. 
This  Bill  was  not  popular  from  a  Democratic  stand 
point,  and  the  Democrats  had  no  idea  of  permitting  it 
to  pass.  Burrows,  however,  was  more  than  a  match 
for  them.  On  the  first  Monday  of  each  month,  after 
the  call  of  States  and  Territories  for  the  introduction 
of  Bills  had  been  concluded,  an  opportunity  was 
offered  in  the  House  for  individual  members  to  ask 
the  passage  of  their  favorite  measures  under  the  sus 
pension  of  the  rules.  Immediately  after  the  call, 
Burrows  arose  to  move  a  suspension  of  the  rules  for 

i  See  Volume  II,  Chapter  V. 


194  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1879 

the  purpose  of  passing  his  Anti-Polygamy  Bill.  The 
House  had  apparently  forgotten  that  this  was  suspen 
sion  day,  and  several  members  exclaimed  that  the 
Bill  could  not  be  passed  except  by  unanimous  con 
sent.  Availing  himself  of  this  lack  of  watchfulness, 
Burrows  moved  a  suspension  of  the  rules.  His  mo 
tion  was  seconded  by  more  than  the  required  majority, 
and  this  being  carried  by  almost  a  unanimous  vote, 
the  Bill  was  declared  passed  in  less  than  five  minutes. 
Burrows  did  not  even  make  his  fifteen  minute  speech 
on  the  Bill,  fearing  that  if  he  did  so  he  would  arouse 
the  House,  and  incur  an  opposition  which  might  be 
disastrous.  Bragg,  of  Wisconsin,  was  waiting  until 
the  vote  should  be  taken  to  suspend  the  rules,  it  then 
being  his  intention  to  offer  an  amendment  as  the  basis 
of  filibustering.  To  his  chagrin,  however,  Bragg  was 
informed  by  the  Speaker  that  he  was  too  late, — the 
passage  of  the  motion  to  suspend  the  rules  in  the  form 
it  was  put  had  also  passed  the  Bill.  Randall,  Cox, 
and  Springer  all  happened  to  be  out  of  the  Chamber 
at  this  time  or  it  might  not  have  been  so  easy  to  catch 
the  Democrats  in  a  parliamentary  blunder,  but  the 
Republicans  were  not  slow  to  recognize  in  Burrows' 
clever  tactics  the  work  of  a  parliamentarian  of  the 
first  order.  Schuyler  Colfax  telegraphed  Burrows 
just  after  this  incident,  "Congratulations.  You  hit 
the  nail  on  the  head.  Hammer  it  home." 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY       195 

In  1881  Burrows  was  honored  by  being  invited  to 
deliver  the  Decoration  Day  address  at  Gettysburg, 
where  seventeen  years  earlier  Lincoln  had  spoken  his 
immortal  words.  It  was  an  address  in  keeping  with 
the  high  standards  established  by  his  predecessors, 
scholarly  in  its  conception,  appropriate  in  its  nature, 
and  eloquent  in  its  tribute.  In  closing  he  said: 

"Upon  these  headstones,  the  white  leaves  of  an 
ever-open  volume,  are  recorded  the  names  and  deeds 
of  those  who  perished  on  this  sanguinary  field. 
These  records  will  fade  and  crumble  into  decay,  yet 
so  long  as  constitutional  government  has  a  champion, 
the  Union  an  advocate,  liberty  a  friend, — so  long 
shall  the  memory  of  their  achievements  be  preserved 
to  inspire  and  bless  mankind." . 

Another  admirable  example  of  Burrows'  eloquence 
is  found  in  his  address  this  same  year  in  Milwaukee 
on  the  occasion  of  the  opening  of  the  Industrial  Ex 
position,  when  he  said,  referring  to  the  Pantheon 
which  was  that  day  opened: 

"Dedicate  it  to  Agriculture,  for  she  has  subdued 
your  broad  acres,  billowed  them  with  harvests  bear 
ing  plenty  to  your  hearthstones  and  treasures  to  your 
coffers. 

"Dedicate  it  to  Commerce,  for  she  gathers  the 
riches  of  every  clime,  and  lays  them  in  royal  munifi 
cence  at  your  feet. 


196  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1879 

"Dedicate  it  to  Manufactures,  for  with  cunning 
hand  she  ministers  in  tireless  vigilance  to  the  comfort 
and  necessities  of  mankind. 

"Dedicate  it  to  Science,  for,  in  the  language  of 
Macaulay,  6It  has  lengthened  life;  it  has  mitigated 
pain;  it  has  extinguished  diseases;  it  has  increased 
the  fertility  of  the  soil;  it  has  given  new  securities  to 
the  mariner;  it  has  furnished  new  arms  to  the  warrior; 
it  has  spanned  great  rivers  and  estuaries  with  bridges 
of  form  unknown  to  our  fathers;  it  has  guided  the 
thunderbolt  harmlessly  from  heaven  to  earth;  it  has 
lighted  up  the  night  with  the  splendor  of  the  day;  it 
has  extended  the  range  of  human  vision ;  it  has  multi 
plied  the  power  of  the  human  muscles;  it  has  accel 
erated  motion;  it  has  annihilated  distance;  it  has 
facilitated  intercourse,  correspondence,  all  friendly 
offices,  all  despatch  of  business;  it  has  enabled  man 
to  descend  to  the  depths  of  the  sea,  to  soar  into  the 
air,  to  penetrate  securely  into  the  noxious  recesses  of 
the  earth,  to  traverse  the  land  in  cars  and  cross  the 
ocean  in  ships.  These  are  but  a  part  of  its  fruits, 
and  of  its  first  fruits;  for  it  is  a  philosophy  which 
never  rests,  which  has  never  attained,  which  is  never 
perfect;  its  law  is  progress.  A  point  which  was  yes 
terday  invisible  is  its  goal  today,  and  will  be  its  start 
ing  point  tomorrow.' 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY       197 

"Dedicate  it  to  Art,  for  she  is  immortal.  'When  I 
think,'  said  an  old  monk,  who  was  accustomed  to 
show  the  paintings  on  the  walls  of  his  monastery, 
'how  men  come  generation  after  generation  to  see 
these  pictures,  and  how  they  pass  away  but  these  re 
main,  I  sometimes  think  that  these  are  the  realities, 
and  we  are  the  shadows.' 

"Dedicate  it  to  Music,  for  her  voice  can  arouse  the 
slumbering  energies  of  the  Nation,  still  the  tempests 
in  the  human  breast,  and  break  to  mortal  ear  the  very 
harmonies  of  heaven. 

"Dedicate  it  to  the  Genius  of  Invention,  for  it  has 
lifted  the  burdens  from  the  back  of  toil,  wiped  the 
sweat  from  the  brow  of  labor,  and  gladdened  the 
whole  earth  with  the  trophies  of  its  triumphs. 

"And,  finally,  dedicate  it  to  the  lofty  spirit  of 
Progress,  whose  shibboleth  is  borne  on  your  great 
seal  of  State,  'Forward  and  forever.' ' 

At  the  close  of  the  Forty-seventh  Congress  Burrows 
again,  for  a  single  term,  dropped  out  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  He  had  been  unanimously  renomi- 
nated  for  the  Forty-eighth  Congress,  but  the  unpopu 
larity  of  his  Party,  discontent  over  Federal  patronage, 
the  candidacy  on  the  Union  ticket  of  the  brilliant 
Yaple,  combined  with  some  curious  local  conditions 
accomplished  his  defeat. 


198  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1879 

Burrows  probably  did  not  recognize  that  this  sec 
ond  temporary  setback  in  his  political  career  was  an 
other  blessing  in  disguise.  From  a  personal  stand 
point,  it  gave  him  opportunity  to  reflect  both  upon 
himself  and  upon  the  Party  of  which  he  now  knew 
himself  to  be  an  integral  factor.  It  gave  him  oppor 
tunity  to  get  back  again  into  the  heart  of  his  constitu 
ency,  and  to  learn  as  a  layman  what  the  people  really 
thought  and  really  felt.  There  is  an  advantage 
which  comes  from  continuous  service,  and  this  advan 
tage  was  to  come  to  Burrows  later;  but  it  is  also  bene 
ficial,  particularly  in  the  early  part  of  any  man's 
career,  to  have  the  opportunity  offered  him  to  con 
sider  himself  and  his  actions  from  an  impersonal 
standpoint  and  away  from  actual  activity.  Too  often 
a  man  comes  too  close  to  his  work,  and  thus  fails  to 
attain  the  best  of  which  he  is  capable.  Success  is 
often  taken  as  a  measure  of  approval,  and  the  content 
ment  which  comes  with  this  too  often  prevents  the 
highest  development  because  of  the  absence  of  imme 
diate  necessity  of  effort. 

If  Burrows  had  not  been  defeated  in  1881  he  would 
have  entered  the  Elaine  campaign  as  a  part  of  the 
machine  rather  than  as  a  contestant  for  election,  and 
the  lessons  he  learned  at  this  crisis  were  of  inestima 
ble  value  to  his  later  work.  If  he  had  not  been  de 
feated  he  would  not  have  learned  how  highly  his 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      199 

Party  had  already  come  to  think  of  him,  as  evidenced 
by  the  efforts  made  by  influential  statesmen  to  reward 
him  for  his  past  services  with  some  public  office.  He 
was  suggested  and  urged  for  Postmaster  General,  as 
Second  Comptroller  of  the  Treasury,  as  First  Assist 
ant  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  as  Chief  Justice  or 
Governor  of  Dakota.  He  permitted  no  one  of  these 
suggestions,  however,  to  come  to  a  head,  and  when 
President  Arthur  appointed  him  Solicitor  of  the 
Treasury,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to  forward  to  him 
the  official  appointment,  he  steadfastly  declined  to 
accept  any  responsibility  which  would  stand  in  the 
way  of  his  return  to  the  House  of  Representatives. 
His  confidence  that  this  was  to  be  his  life  work  was  no 
less  than  when  ten  years  earlier  he  had  seen  himself 
temporarily  set  aside. 

So,  after  taking  a  brief  vacation  in  Dakota,  he  re 
turned  to  Kalamazoo  and  to  the  practice  of  his  profes 
sion,  reestablishing  the  old  law  firm  of  Severens  & 
Burrows  which  had  been  dissolved  when  he  entered 
Congress  in  1872.  In  the  meantime,  Mr.  Severens 
had  added  largely  to  his  legal  attainments  by  his 
experience  on  the  bench,  and  the  new  firm  immedi 
ately  took  its  position  as  one  of  the  strongest  in  the 
State. 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  Burrows'  speeches  in 
his  own  campaign  for  reelection  and  in  behalf  of 


200  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1879 

Elaine's  candidacy  for  President  with  those  of  his 
earlier  campaigns.  We  have  already  noted  how  the 
ornate,  grandiloquent  style  of  the  youthful  orator 
passed  away  and  settled  upon  a  more  permanent 
basis ;  the  third  epoch  begins  with  this  period.  What 
may  be  called  the  second  epoch  showed  Burrows  as  a 
skilful  campaigner,  knowing  his  audiences  and  sway 
ing  them  by  his  combination  of  eloquence  and  aca 
demic  presentation  of  the  facts.  Now,  however,  we 
see  the  academician  turned  into  the  simple  exponent, 
leading  his  audiences  as  well  as  persuading,  and  show 
ing  them  almost  in  words  of  one  syllable  the  merits 
of  his  cause.  Too  often  we  find  an  orator  influenced 
by  his  audience;  too  often  he  strives  for  applause  by 
advocating  theories  which  he  finds  are  popular:  "If 
you  can  talk  with  crowds  and  keep  your  virtue,"  is 
Kipling's  way  of  putting  it.  Burrows  always  domi 
nated  his  hearers,  and  scrupulously  adhered  to  his 
basic  principles. 

The  clarity  and  simplicity  of  his  diction,  however, 
did  not  detract  from  his  reputation  for  eloquence. 
It  simply  meant  that  he  had  become  more  versatile 
and  more  accomplished  in  making  his  speeches  fit 
their  respective  audiences.  When  it  came  to  his 
Memorial  Address,  delivered  on  the  occasion  of  the 
death  of  General  Grant,  he  was  again  the  orator,  with 
the  same  wonderful  vocabulary  at  his  command,  the 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      201 

same  magnetic  presence,  the  same  effective  voice,  the 
same  compelling  style: 

"He  goes  to  his  grave,"  Burrows  said,  "stripped  of 
the  very  sword  with  which  he  defended  his  country 
that  he  might  make  reparation  for  the  wrongs  of 
others.  But  he  sleeps  well.  Would  that  he  could 
have  been  accorded  life's  allotted  span,  but  he  lived 
long  enough  to  see  his  country  happily  reunited  in 
the  bonds  of  enduring  peace.  He  lived  long  enough 
to  see  the  banner  of  the  Republic  everywhere  re 
spected,  beneath  which  there  breathed  no  master  and 
crouched  no  slave.  He  lived  long  enough  to  see  the 
sunlight  of  truth  break  through  and  dispel  the  mists 
that  sometimes  threatened  to  envelop  his  fair  name. 
He  lived  long  enough  to  be  assured  of  the  undying 
gratitude  of  the  Republic  and  the  immortality  of  his 
fame.  He  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  bitterness 
engendered  by  our  civil  strife  so  far  assuaged  that 
those  who  had  been  his  foes  in  war  were  his  friends 
in  peace.  And  today,  as  Union  and  Confederate 
Generals  unite  with  a  common  sorrow  in  bearing  his 
body  to  its  final  resting-place,  methinks  if  he  could 
speak  from  the  beyond  he  would  again  exclaim,  'Let 
us  have  Peace.'  And  so  the  great  soul  of  this  un 
crowned  king,  with  the  benediction  of  all  the  people, 
has  passed  through  the  earthly  dawn  into  the  dawn 
eternal." 


202  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1879 

Burrows  was  a  delegate-at-large  to  the  National 
Republican  Convention  of  1884,  and  had  the  satis 
faction  of  seeing  Elaine,  his  friend  and  Party  idol,  at 
last  nominated  for  the  Presidency.  He  had  shared 
Elaine's  disappointment  over  his  defeat  in  the  Con 
vention  of  1876;  he  had  been  torn  by  the  tempestuous 
scenes  of  the  Convention  of  1880,  when  Conkling, 
supporting  Grant  for  a  third  term,  had  locked  horns 
with  the  Elaine  forces  until  Garfield  was  nominated 
as  a  compromise  candidate.  Garfield  was  a  more 
intimate  friend  than  Elaine,  but  Burrows  knew,  as  did 
all  the  world,  that  Elaine  was  better  fitted  by  nature 
and  by  experience  for  the  responsibilities  of  the  high 
office.  In  1884,  however,  Fate  seemed  to  relent,  and 
the  Maine  statesman  was  at  last  given  the  banner  of 
the  Party  which  he  had  so  long  and  so  efficiently 
served. 

Burrows  threw  himself  with  undisguised  joy  into 
the  campaign.  After  stumping  the  State  of  Iowa 
with  Benjamin  Harrison,  he  made  a  two  weeks'  can 
vass  with  Elaine  in  the  nominee's  own  State,  later 
speaking  throughout  New  York,  and  closing  the  cam 
paign  in  Michigan.  The  Party  platform  was  loosely 
constructed,  including  Protection,  the  control  of  cor 
porations  through  the  strict  regulation  of  Inter-state 
Commerce,  and  Civil  Service  Reform,  and  the  Demo 
crats  were  still  charged  with  ballot  frauds  in  the 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      203 

South.  Owing  to  the  confused  estimate  of  Elaine's 
character,  held  even  by  Republicans,  as  a  result  of 
the  personal  attacks  made  upon  him,  and  to  the  un 
usual  personal  popularity  of  Cleveland,  the  campaign 
speakers  confined  themselves  closely  to  the  National 
problems  which  each  espoused.  The  fact  that  the 
Democrats  skilfully  evaded  the  whole  question  of  Pro 
tection  in  their  platform  marked  a  significant  land 
mark  in  the  history  of  that  Party. 

Burrows'  attack  was  made  principally  against  this 
seemingly  weakest  point  in  their  armor.  He  was 
particularly  successful  in  pointing  out  the  tortuous 
course  pursued  by  the  Democratic  Party,  showing 
how  it  had  doubled  on  itself,  and  was  at  that  moment 
on  a  "straddle."  Although  varied  in  its  presenta 
tion  and  emphasized  more  in  some  speeches  than  in 
others,  the  basis  of  his  remarks  on  this  point  may  be 
found  in  an  earlier  speech  made  before  Congress, 
which  tersely  summarizes  the  gymnastics  to  which  he 
referred.  In  this  speech  he  says: 

"It  is  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  modern  Democ 
racy  that  the  principles  it  avowed  yesterday  it  repudi 
ates  today.  The  cause  it  espouses  today  it  will 
abandon  tomorrow.  Indeed,  it  may  well  be  ques 
tioned  whether  as  a  Party  it  has  any  fixed  and  abiding 
convictions.  Its  history  for  the  last  twenty-five  years 
is  a  history  of  vacillation,  insincerity,  and  folly.  In 


204  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1879 

1872  it  demanded  a  speedy  return  to  specie  pay 
ments;  in  1876  it  denounced  the  Resumption  Act 
and  demanded  its  repeal.  In  1868  it  demanded  the 
payment  of  the  interest-bearing  obligations  of  the 
Government  in  irredeemable  paper;  in  1872  it  de 
nounced  repudiation  in  every  form  and  guise.  In 
1868  it  demanded  the  abolition  of  all  instrumentali 
ties  designed  to  secure  negro  supremacy;  in  1872  it 
recognized  the  equality  of  all  men  before  the  law,  of 
whatever  race  or  color.  From  i860  to  1865  it 
wielded  its  Party  power  to  obstruct  the  successful 
prosecution  of  the  war  for  the  Union;  in  1882  it 
proclaimed  itself  the  chief  instrument  in  accomplish 
ing  its  successful  results.  In  1868  it  publicly 
thanked  Andrew  Johnson  for  exercising  the  veto 
power  in  resisting  the  aggressions  of  Congress;  in 
1880  it  declared  that  the  use  of  the  veto  power  in 
sults  the  people  and  imperils  their  institutions.  In 
i860  it  drove  labor  to  the  shambles  and  sold  it  at 
public  auction;  in  1880  it  declared  itself  the  friend 
of  the  laboring-men.  In  1868  it  was  for  a  Democrat 
for  President;  in  1872  it  enlisted  under  the  banner 
of  a  Republican.  In  war  it  followed  the  leadership 
of  a  peace  general;  in  peace  it  supported  a  general 
who  was  for  war.  One  of  your  own  number,  the  dis 
tinguished  gentleman  from  Texas,  Mr.  Upson,  has 
fitly  characterized  the  course  of  the  Democratic  Party 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      205 

as  follows:  'It  can  succeed,'  he  says — 'if  the  Demo 
cratic  Party  will  be  true  to  its  time-honored  princi 
ples,  true  to  itself,  shake  off  its  spell  of  vacillation 
and  lethargy,  cease  its  cowardly  trimming  at  every 
doubting  whisper,  quit  dodging  at  every  flitting 
shadow,  stop  tweedling  every  political  crank,  and 
drag  itself  from  the  meshes  of  that  drag-net  policy 
thrown  out  to  catch  the  followers  of  every  new-fangled 
ism  and  popular  whim.'  And  so  the  Democratic 
Party,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  without  chart  or 
compass,  has  been  cruising  in  every  sea,  intent  upon 
and  anxious  only  to  avail  itself  of  any  breeze  from 
any  quarter  that  might  fill  its  sails  and  carry  it  into 
political  power.  I  thank  God  that  I  belong  to  a 
Party  that  in  storm  or  sunshine  has  kept  steadily  on 
its  course." 

On  the  stump,  he  told  this  anecdote  with  telling 
effect:  "The  Democratic  Party  as  a  Party  has  no 
settled  convictions  on  this  subject  of  finance.  They 
are  soft  money  in  one  State,  and  hard  money  in  an 
other;  soft  one  day  and  hard  another.  They  are  like 
the  fellow  who  had  a  horse  which  he  recommended 
as  a  hunter.  A  stranger  came  along  and  noticed 
that  once  in  a  while  his  horse  would  drop  down,  and 
he  said,  'What  is  the  matter  with  the  horse?'  The 
fellow  said,  'That  is  a  trick;  there  is  deer  around. 
He  is  a  setter,  and  when  he  smells  deer  around  he 


206  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1879 

will  always  do  that.  He  is  a  very  valuable  horse.' 
The  stranger  said,  'How  will  you  trade?'  and  he 
bought  the  horse  and  started  out  with  it,  and  he  came 
along  to  the  middle  of  a  stream  and  the  horse  dropped. 
With  that  he  was  a  little  disgusted,  and  went  back 
and  said  that  he  had  been  cheated.  'What  is  the 
matter?'  asked  the  seller;  'didn't  he  drop?'  'Yes, 
he  did;  right  in  the  midst  of  a  stream,  and  I  came 
near  getting  drowned.'  'Well,'  said  the  former,  'I 
forgot  to  tell  you,  that  horse  is  just  as  good  for  trout 
as  he  is  for  deer.'  So  the  Democratic  Party  is  just 
as  good  for  soft  money  as  it  is  for  hard  money." 

The  results  of  his  campaign  work  were  strongly 
apparent  in  the  State  elections.  He  was  called  by 
Cameron  to  Pennsylvania  and  by  Colfax  to  Indiana. 
"You  have  just  stolen  the  hearts  of  our  people,"  Col- 
fax  wrote,  "and  they  rank  you  as  even  more  effective 
than  Ingersoll."  "Your  magnificent  speech,"  wrote 
M.  C.  Dunning  from  Iowa,  "turned  the  scale.  .  .  . 
That  speech  is  still  the  favorite  topic  among  Repub 
licans  here,  and  is  regarded  as  the  most  brilliant  and 
most  effective  ever  delivered  in  Mitchell  County." 

His  own  victory  scarcely  made  up  to  Burrows  for 
the  keenness  of  his  disappointment  over  the  defeat  of 
his  leader,  although  Elaine  himself  had  never  been 
sanguine  of  success  from  the  time  he  was  first  nomi 
nated  in  1876.  After  the  Cincinnati  Convention 


1885]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      207 

Elaine  had  exclaimed:  "I  am  the  Henry  Clay  of 
the  Republican  Party, — I  can  never  be  President"; 
and  the  strange  fatality  which  followed  him  in  thwart 
ing  this  one  great  desire  of  his  life  culminated  in  this 
defeat. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Ingersoll  sent  Burrows  the 
following  amusing  comments  on  recent  events : 

From  Robert  G.  Ingersoll 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  Dec.  90,  '84 

MY  DEAR  BURROWS: 

After  congratulating  you  on  your  election,  and 
after  my  best  regards  to  Mrs.  Burrows,  I  will  say. 
.  .  .  How  is  the  world  going?  What  do  you  think 
of  the  late  alleged  election?  What  is  your  opinion 
of  the  preacher  in  politics?  What  do  you  think  of 
Balaam's  ass  and  Elaine's  doctor  of  divinity? 

This  is  a  great  world,  brother  Burrows,  and  many 
things  are  foretold  that  never  happen,  and  some 
things  come  to  pass  without  being  foretold.  .  .  . 


CHAPTER  VII 
LATER  YEARS  IN  THE  LOWER  HOUSE.     1885-1890 

WITH  his  election  to  the  Forty-ninth  Congress, 
Burrows  began  a  continuous  service  of 
twenty-seven  years  in  the  Lower  and  Upper  branches. 
He  found  a  substantial  Democratic  majority  in  the 
House  and  a  Republican  Senate,  which  formed  a  com 
bination  hostile  to  important  legislation.  Civil  Serv 
ice  Reform  was  the  shibboleth  of  the  period,  owing  to 
the  tremendous  expansion  of  the  "spoils  system" 
which  had  culminated  in  the  murder  of  President 
Garfield.  Cleveland  himself  recognized  the  temper 
of  the  people,  and  for  the  first  time  in  over  fifty  years 
the  incoming  President  made  no  radical  sweep  in  the 
non-political  offices.  The  hope  which  this  engen 
dered  in  the  hearts  of  the  advocates  of  Civil  Service 
Reform  was,  however,  soon  dispelled,  as  Cleveland 
found  himself  absolutely  unable  to  prevent  his  Cab 
inet  officers  from  yielding  to  the  ravenous  demands  of 
the  hungry  Democratic  office  seekers,  who  were  now 
in  a  position  to  appropriate  the  spoils  of  victory. 

During  the  first  session  of  this  Congress  the  ques 
tion  of  the  Presidential  succession  was  settled,  this 

208 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      209 

action  being  impelled  by  the  death  of  vice-President 
Hendricks.  A  Tariff  Bill  was  prepared,  but  as 
there  was  no  possibility  of  passing  it  through  the 
Republican  Senate  it  was  never  urged  for  serious 
consideration.  Cleveland  cooperated  earnestly  in 
the  organization  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission,  but, 
as  we  shall  see  later,  the  sincerity  of  his  efforts  in 
this  direction  was  more  than  nullified  by  the  lack  of 
cooperation  on  the  part  of  other  influential  leaders  of 
his  Party. 

Although  hopelessly  in  the  minority,  Burrows  was 
heard  on  all  the  important  measures  which  came  up 
during  the  two  sessions.  One  of  these  was  a  Bill 
submitted  for  the  relief  of  Major-General  Fitz-John 
Porter,  which  in  effect  was  an  effort  to  reverse  the 
judgment  of  the  court-martial  which  dismissed  Gen 
eral  Porter  from  the  service  of  the  United  States  in 
January,  1863,  on  the  ground  of  "disobedience  of 
the  lawful  commands  of  his  superior  officer"  and 
"misbehavior  in  the  face  of  the  enemy."  The  Bill 
had  passed  the  Forty-eighth  Congress,  but  was  vetoed 
by  President  Arthur.  Burrows  approached  the  sub 
ject  first  from  a  judicial  aspect,  questioning  the 
authority  of  Congress  to  take  upon  itself  the  power 
to  set  aside,  modify,  or  nullify  the  sentence  of  a  gen 
eral  court-martial.  He  presented  an  impressive 
array  of  opinions  from  legal  authorities  which  carried 


210  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1885 

much  weight;  and  finally  summed  up  his  case  with 
the  old-time  fire  which  could  only  burst  from  the 
Northern  soldier  in  contemplating  what  he  consid 
ered  to  be  nothing  less  than  Southern  treachery. 
The  deep-rooted,  war-time  antagonisms  were  still 
alive  in  Burrows'  breast,  even  though  now  under  full 
control. 

"Let  me  say  to  you,  gentlemen,"  he  said — "let  me 
say  to  the  Democratic  Party  North  and  South, — 
South  in  the  lead,  the  North  following,  that  if  by  the 
force  of  numbers  you  do  this  thing  the  country  will 
not  hold  you  guiltless.  The  people  whom  Fitzjohn 
Porter  betrayed  are  content  with  the  verdict.  Why 
not  let  it  stand?  Why  seek  to  reverse  it?  Do  you 
question  the  capacity  or  integrity  of  the  court?  Fitz 
john  Porter  was  tried  and  convicted  by  a  military 
tribunal  composed  of  gentlemen  of  exalted  character 
and  acknowledged  ability.  Six  of  the  nine  generals 
.  .  .  were  graduates  of  the  Military  Academy,  famil 
iar  with  all  the  details  and  discipline  of  military  life. 
Generals  Prentiss  and  Slough  were  men  of  high  civil 
and  military  renown,  while  General  Garfield,  for 
brilliant  achievements  in  the  field  and  forum,  is  as 
signed  a  foremost  place  in  the  Nation's  regard. 

"Such  was  the  high  character  of  the  tribunal 
which  convicted  Fitz-John  Porter.  It  sat  where  the 
sound  of  the  battle's  thunder  had  been  heard,  and 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      211 

summoned  into  its  presence  the  witnesses,  chief  and 
subaltern,  from  that  field  of  carnage  and  treachery. 
It  sat  with  open  doors.  The  accused  was  present  in 
person  and  by  eminent  counsel,  among  whom  was  the 
Hon.  Reverdy  Johnson.  It  prosecuted  the  investiga 
tion  for  forty-five  days;  examined  eighteen  persons 
on  the  part  of  the  Government  and  twenty-two  on 
behalf  of  the  accused, — forty  witness  in  all.  .  .  . 
Judge  Holt  submitted  the  case  without  argument. 
The  accused  was  heard  at  length,  after  which  the 
court  found  Fitz-John  Porter  guilty  of  disobedience 
of  the  lawful  commands  of  his  superior  officer  and 
misbehavior  in  the  face  of  the  enemy ;  and  thereupon 
sentenced  him  to  be  dismissed  from  the  military  serv 
ice  of  the  United  States,  and  forever  disqualified  from 
holding  any  office  of  profit  or  trust  under  the  Govern 
ment  thereof.  The  findings  and  sentence  of  the 
court  were  approved  by  Abraham  Lincoln,  whose 
name  has  become  a  synonym  of  justice  and  hon 
esty. 

"But  it  has  been  said  that  injustice  was  done  Fitz- 
John  Porter,  and  that  the  judgment  of  the  court  was 
swayed  by  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the  hour. 
It  is  a  notorious  fact  that  a  majority  of  that  court  were 
Porter's  personal  friends,  none  his  enemies.  He 
himself,  upon  his  arraignment,  declared  himself  con 
tent  with  the  detail.  The  sentence  of  the  court  gives 


212  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [188? 

assurance  of  its  friendship,  for  if  Fitz-John  Porter 
was  guilty  of  one-half  with  which  he  was  charged  he 
ought  to  have  paid  the  forfeit  of  his  life.  The  blood 
that  courses  in  his  veins  is  no  richer  than  that  which 
warms  the  heart  of  the  humblest  subaltern,  and  if  a 
private  soldier  had  been  guilty  of  what  Fitz-John 
Porter  was  convicted  he  would  have  been  shot  on  the 
field. 

"But  do  you  come  here  for  an  impartial  tribunal? 
Is  there  no  bias  in  this  panel?  At  the  risk  of  being 
charged  with  reviving  the  memories  of  the  past,  may  I 
inquire  if  there  are  not  some  gentlemen  in  this  array 
whose  cause  was  directly  benefited  by  Porter's  treach 
ery,  and  if  such,  do  you  think  you  are  or  can  be  im 
partial  judges?  Do  you  believe  the  betrayer  of  a 
public  trust  should  be  tried  by  the  parties  who  prof 
ited  by  the  treachery?  Is  that  your  idea  of  an  im 
partial  verdict?  What  a  travesty  this  is  upon  jus 
tice  !  The  beneficiaries  of  Porter's  crime  gravely  sit 
in  judgment  to  condemn  Lincoln  and  Garfield,  and 
acquit  Porter!  That,  too,  after  twenty-three  years, 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century,  has  sealed  the  lips  of 
witnesses  and  silenced  the  voice  of  the  court.  Why 
not  let  this  judgment  stand?  Why  seek  to  reverse 
it? 

"You  who  are  so  sensitive  about  reviving  the  mem 
ories  of  the  past,  in  the  name  of  peace  why  not  let 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      213 

this  rest?  I  fear  there  is  but  one  explanation.  Not 
long  since  it  was  proclaimed  in  this  Hall  that  the 
'South  would  not  be  content  until  it  had  wiped  from 
the  statute-book  all  the  war  legislation  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.'  What  was  then  regarded  as  a  harmless 
outburst  of  passion  seems  after  all  to  have  been  a 
startling  prophecy.  The  beginning  of  its  fulfilment 
is  at  hand.  Legislative  enactment  and  solemn  adju 
dication  are  alike  marked  for  destruction.  Where 
the  work  is  to  end  Heaven  only  knows.  It  looks  as 
if  nothing  was  secure,  nothing  settled,  nothing 
exempt  from  this  unholy  purpose  of  demolition. 
But  let  me  say  to  the  majority  of  this  House,  and  to 
the  Democratic  Party,  that  you  are  making  a  fearful 
mistake  in  signalizing  your  return  to  National  control 
by  impeaching  the  honesty  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  re 
versing  the  judgment  of  James  A.  Garfield.  Though 
their  lips  are  sealed,  be  assured  that  the  people  who 
honored  them  and  their  works  living  will  defend  them 
dead.  You  may  enter  judgment  against  them  here, 
but  it  will  be  indignantly  reversed  by  the  grand  as 
sizes  of  the  people.  I  am  conscious  that  we  can  do 
little  else  here  than  protest  against  the  passage  of 
this  measure.  In  the  name  of  the  Constitution 
which  it  overrides,  of  the  law  which  it  wantonly  vio 
lates,  of  the  good  order  and  discipline  of  the  army 
which  it  disturbs  and  destroys,  and  in  the  name  of  the 


214  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1885 

unnumbered  dead  who  fell  a  sacrifice  to  the  treachery 
of  Fitz-John  Porter,  I  protest  against  it." 

The  Post-office  Appropriation  Bill  afforded  Bur 
rows  an  excellent  opportunity  to  bring  out  the  con 
trast  between  the  protestations  of  the  Democratic 
Party  in  the  matter  of  Civil  Service  Reform  and  the 
actual  application  of  their  alleged  principles  when  the 
opportunity  actually  came  to  put  them  into  operation. 
"If  there  has  been  any  one  thing  in  the  last  fifteen 
years,"  he  said,  "to  which  the  Democratic  Party 
seemed  more  ardently  attached  than  any  other  it  was 
reform  in  the  Civil  Service.  In  season  and  out  of 
season,  in  public  and  in  private,  by  speech  and  plat 
form,  it  has  coveted  every  occasion  to  make  solemn 
protestation  of  its  devotion  to  this  new-found  object 
of  its  idolatry.  Its  enthusiasm  at  times  would  brook 
no  restraint. 

"Although  Reform  and  the  Democratic  Party  never 
had  any  personal  acquaintance  until  1872,  when  they 
met  for  the  first  time  in  a  Liberal-Republican  Conven 
tion,  yet  from  that  hour  there  sprang  up  an  attach 
ment  between  them  which  has  been  absolutely 
phenomenal.  Some  slight  conception  of  the  warmth 
of  its  devotion  at  that  time  may  be  gathered  from  the 
following  declaration  preserved  in  its  platform  of 
1872: 

"  'The  Civil  Service  of  the  Government  has  become 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      215 

a  mere  instrument  of  partisan  tryanny  and  personal 
ambition,  and  an  object  of  selfish  greed.  It  is  a 
scandal  and  reproach  upon  free  institutions,  and 
breeds  a  demoralization  dangerous  to  the  perpetuity 
of  Republican  Government.  We  therefore  regard  a 
thorough  reform  of  the  Civil  Service  as  one  of  the 
most  pressing  necessities  of  the  hour;  that  honesty, 
capacity,  and  fidelity  constitute  the  only  valid  claims 
to  public  employment;  that  the  offices  of  the  Govern 
ment  cease  to  be  a  matter  of  arbitrary  favoritism  and 
patronage,  and  that  public  station  shall  become  again 
a  post  of  honor/ 

"In  1876  the  Democratic  Party  renewed  its  vows 
of  fidelity  with  such  earnestness  as  to  banish  all 
thought  of  the  possibility  of  betrayal,  in  the  following 
language: 

6  'Reform  is  necessary  in  the  Civil  Service.  Expe 
rience  proves  that  efficient,  economical  conduct  of  the 
Governmental  business  is  not  possible  if  its  Civil 
Service  be  subject  to  change  at  every  election,  be  a 
prize  fought  for  at  the  ballot-box,  be  a  brief  reward 
for  Party  zeal,  instead  of  posts  of  honor  assigned  for 
proved  competency,  and  held  for  fidelity  in  the  public 
employ;  that  the  dispensing  of  patronage  should 
neither  be  a  tax  upon  the  time  of  all  our  public  men, 
nor  the  instrument  of  their  ambition.' 2 

1  Democratic  platform,  Baltimore,  Md.,  July,  1872. 

2  Democratic  platform,  Saint  Louis,  Mo.,  June  27,  1876. 


216  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1885 

"In  1880,  its  ardor  had  somewhat  cooled,  and  was 
fast  settling  down  into  respectful  consideration,  as  the 
following  declaration  in  its  platform  discloses :  'We 
pledge  ourselves  to  a  general  and  thorough  reform  of 
the  Civil  Service.' 

"In  1884,  six  words,  compressed  into  one  curt 
sentence,  measured  its  waning  regard:  'We  favor 
honest  Civil  Service  reform.' 

"But  if  the  public  mind  had  become  somewhat 
distrustful  of  the  sincerity  of  the  Democratic  Party  in 
its  professions  touching  reform  in  the  Civil  Service,  it 
was  fully  reassured  by  Mr.  Cleveland  in  his  letter  of 
acceptance,  in  which  he  said:  The  selection  and 
retention  of  subordinates  in  Government  employment 
shall  depend  upon  their  ascertained  fitness  and  the 
value  of  their  work.  Public  employment  will  be 
open  to  all  wTho  can  demonstrate  their  fitness  to  enter 
it.'  These  are  some  of  the  professions  with  which 
the  Democratic  Party  came  up  to  the  campaign  of 
1884,  and  under  which  it  was  entrusted  with  National 
control. 

"In  view  of  these  utterances  the  people  had  a  right 
to  expect,  and  in  many  instances  were  undoubtedly 
deluded  into  the  belief,  that  the  Democratic  Party 
would  in  good  faith  redeem  its  promises  in  this  regard. 
That,  in  the  language  of  the  Democratic  platform, 
'honesty,  capacity,  and  fidelity'  would  be  the  only 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      217 

valid  claims  to  public  employment,  and  that,  in  the 
words  of  the  President,  'the  selection  and  retention  of 
subordinates  in  the  Government  employment  would 
depend  upon  their  ascertained  fitness.'  Indeed,  the 
Democratic  Party  and  its  nominee  for  the  Presidency 
were  so  completely  committed  to  the  doctrine  of 
reform  in  the  Civil  Service  that  there  was  no  escape 
from  the  execution  of  the  law  in  this  regard  but  by 
public  renunciation  or  secret  evasion.  The  former 
step  would  have  been  commendable  in  the  highest 
degree  in  contrast  with  that  other  course  which  this 
Administration  seems  determined  to  pursue.  To 
have  failed  to  execute  the  law  would  have  been  bad 
faith;  to  pretend  to  execute  it  while  secretly  nullifying 
it  is  not  only  bad  faith  but  hypocrisy. 

"The  first  intimation  of  a  plan  by  which  the  conse 
quences  of  Democratic  professions  might  be  avoided 
came  from  Mr.  Cleveland  in  December,  1884,  after 
the  service  of  the  people  at  the  ballot-box  was  no 
longer  required,  and  nothing  remained  to  complete 
his  title  to  the  Presidency  save  the  formal  declaration 
of  the  result  of  the  election.  Then  it  was  that  the 
President-elect,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Curtis,1  pointed  out 
the  way  by  which  the  Democratic  Party  might  escape 
from  all  its  pledges  to  the  people,  and  fill  the  public 
offices  with  the  adherents  of  the  Democratic  Party  in 

i  George  William  Curtis. 


218  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [188? 

utter  disregard  of  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Civil 
Service  law.  I  quote  from  that  letter  the  follow 
ing: 

"  'There  is  a  class  of  Government  positions  which 
are  not  within  the  letter  of  Civil  Service  statute,  but 
which  are  so  disconnected  with  the  policy  of  an 
Administration  that  removal  therefrom  of  present 
incumbents,  in  my  opinion,  should  not  be  made 
during  the  terms  for  which  they  were  appointed  solely 
on  partisan  grounds,  and  for  the  purpose  of  putting 
in  their  places  those  who  are  in  political  accord  with 
the  appointing  power.  But  many  now  holding  posi 
tions  have  forfeited  all  just  claim  to  retention,  because 
they  have  used  their  places  for  Party  purposes  in  dis 
regard  to  their  duty  to  the  people,  and  because, 
instead  of  being  decent  public  servants,  they  have 
proved  themselves  offensive  partisans  and  unscrup 
ulous  manipulators  of  local  Party  management.' 

"The  term  'offensive  partisan'  makes  its  appear 
ance  in  this  letter  for  the  first  time  since  the  election, 
and  opens  a  broad  avenue  for  escape  from  Democratic 
pledges.  In  hoc  signo  vinces  ! 

"The  Postmaster-general  was  not  slow  to  seize  upon 
the  suggestion  of  the  President-elect,  and  before  he 
had  been  in  his  office  sixty  days  he  issued  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  letters  ever  emanating  from  the  head 
of  any  Department  under  any  Administration.  This 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      219 

communication 1  is  marked  'confidential,'  and  is 
signed  officially  by  William  F.  Vilas,  Postmaster- 
general.  .  .  . 

"On  the  4th  day  of  March,  1885,  the  President 
elect  in  his  inaugural  address  declared  that  'the 
people  demanded  the  application  of  business  princi 
ples  in  public  affairs,9  and  that  'Civil  Service  Reform 
should  be  in  good  faith  enforced.9  While  these  high- 
sounding  words  were  ringing  in  the  public  ear,  the 
Postmaster-general  is  writing  a  'confidential'  letter 
to  Democratic  Congressmen  'to  get  their  cases  ready,' 
and  he  thought  'from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  per  cent, 
of  fourth-class  postmasters  in  Ohio  might  be  removed 
within  the  next  two  months.'  This  is  the  'application 
of  business  principles  to  public  affairs.9  While  the 
echo  of  these  words  was  yet  ringing  in  the  public  ear, 
the  Postmaster-general  quietly  whistles  to  his  side  the 
whole  uncounted  pack  of  hungry  office-seekers,  and 
sets  them  upon  the  track  of  honest  officials  with  in 
structions  to  hunt  them  down  and  hold  them  at  bay 
until  the  Postmaster-general  could  take  their  official 
life.  This  is  reform  in  the  Civil  Service!  This  is 
'doing  business  behind  glass  doors.'  The  whole  his 
tory  of  American  politics  discloses  no  parallel  to 
this." 

iText  of  letter  is  given  in  full  in  the  Congressional  Record,  March 
24,  1886. 


220  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1885 

On  May  18,  1886,  Burrows  spoke  on  the  subject 
of  Foreign  Mail  Service,  pointing  out  a  few  of  the 
many  inconsistencies  in  the  regulations  which  con 
trolled  the  foreign  service  of  the  Post-office  Depart 
ment,  and  particularly  urging  that  $400,000  extra 
be  appropriated  to  enable  the  Postmaster-general  to 
provide  adequate  service  between  the  United  States 
and  Mexico,  Central  and  South  America.  In  view  of 
our  present  interest  in  developing  relations  with 
South  America,  it  is  interesting  to  see  how  closely  the 
position  taken  by  Burrows  thirty  years  ago  parallels 
our  present  convictions.  If  his  amendment  had  been 
adopted  at  that  time  who  shall  say  how  much  farther 
advanced  would  be  the  commercial  relations  today 
between  ourselves  and  these  countries?  Quoting 
from  his  speech: 

"To  the  New  York  and  Brazilian  line,  the  only  line 
we  have  running  to  Brazil,  we  paid  last  year  $4,210, 
and  the  distance  run  on  a  single  trip  was  5,154  miles, 
or  in  a  round  trip  more  than  1O,OOO  miles.  To  Rio 
and  return  we  paid  this  line  the  sum  of  $4,2 1O  for  the 
year,  or  $326  a  trip,  or  about  3  cents  a  mile,  while 
at  the  same  time  we  paid  for  246  miles  of  service  from 
Tampa  to  Key  West  $23,600,  or  46  cents  a  mile. 
Upon  what  principle  of  justice  or  of  reason  is  this  dis 
tinction  made? 

"The  'Red  D  line,'  the  only  line  running  from  New 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      221 

York  to  Venezuela,  the  only  steamship  flying  the 
American  flag  in  that  country,  sailed  to  reach  the  ports 
of  Venezuela  3,066  miles,  in  each  round  trip  6,132 
miles,  and  received  $56.53  a  trip,  stopping  at  eight 
ports,  and  the  owners  of  that  line  paid  out  more  to 
deliver  the  mail  at  these  eight  ports  than  they  received 
from  the  Government  of  the  United  States  for  carry 
ing  the  mails.  At  the  same  time  we  paid  a  steam 
ship  company  for  carrying  the  mails  from  Norfolk  to 
Baltimore,  but  20O  miles,  the  sum  of  $1 8,000 — more 
than  15  cents  a  mile! 

"To  the  New  York  and  Cuban  line,  running  from 
New  York  to  Cuba,  1,174  miles,  we  paid  a  little  over 
$2,6oo.  That  line  made  seventy-one  trips,  sailing 
a  total  distance  of  166,608  miles.  And  how  much 
did  we  pay  a  mile  to  that  line?  One  cent  and  a  half 
for  carrying  the  United  States  mail.  At  the  same 
time  a  steamer  running  from  Norfolk  to  Cape  Charles, 
38  miles  of  coastwise  service,  received  $10,971,  or 
over  39  cents  a  mile.  A  cent  and  a  half  a  mile  from 
New  York  to  Cuba,  1,174  miles,  and  40  cents  a  mile 
from  Norfolk  to  Cape  Charles,  38  miles !  We  paid 
the  New  Orleans  and  Central  American  line,  running 
from  New  Orleans  to  Nicaragua,  1,065  miles'  dis 
tance,  making  fifteen  trips,  traveling  in  the  year 
40,500  miles — we  paid  for  that  service,  for  carrying 
the  United  States  mail,  going  to  the  post-office  in  the 


222  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1885 

United  States  and  getting  the  mail,  taking  it  to  the 
boat,  and  delivering  it  to  the  post-office  in  the  foreign 
country,  the  insignificant  sum  of  $24.50.  It  is  pro 
posed  now  to  pay  these  lines  a  reasonable  compensa 
tion  for  carrying  the  foreign  mails,  and  it  is  denomi 
nated  a  subsidy !  .  .  . 

"Let  us  look  now  at  the  other  side  of  the  South 
American  country.  From  San  Francisco  to  Hong 
kong,  6,080  miles  distant,  we  paid  $3,506  for  last 
year's  service,  eighteen  trips,  each  trip  12,180  miles, 
the  total  distance  sailed  nearly  22O,OOO  miles,  and 
we  paid  one  and  one-half  cents  a  mile  for  that  foreign 
service.  At  the  same  time  another  boat  starts  from 
San  Francisco  and  goes  to  Eureka,  on  the  coast,  only 
2l6  miles  distant,  and  we  paid  that  line  $6,500. 
Why  pay  for  a  trip  of  12,OOO  miles  $195  and  a  trip  of 
432  miles  $125?  .  .  . 

"We  paid  more  for  carrying  the  mails  from  San 
Francisco  to  Sacramento,  171  miles,  to  wit,  $6,OOO, 
than  we  paid  the  American  line  from  San  Francisco 
to  Hongkong,  Panama,  and  to  Mexico.  We  paid 
$6,OOO  more  for  carrying  the  mails  from  Tacoma  to 
Port  Townsend,  a  distance  of  98  miles,  than  we  paid 
the  whole  foreign  Pacific  mail  service.  We  paid  as 
much  from  Tacoma  to  Sitka,  1,441  miles,  to  wit, 
$47,700,  for  carrying  the  United  States  mails,  as  we 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      223 

paid  all  the  American  lines  to  all  foreign  ports  across 
both  oceans  and  to  the  South  American  countries. 
And  yet  no  man  charges  that  the  compensation  from 
Tacoma  to  Sitka  is  a  subsidy.  I  have  alluded  to  these 
facts  for  the  purpose  of  showing  how  unjustly  the  law 
of  sea  and  inland  postage  operates.  It  is  not  the 
fault  of  any  executive  officer.  It  is  simply  because 
the  law  declares  that  you  shall  pay  to  a  foreign  vessel 
only  the  sea  postage,  and  to  the  American  ship  the 
sea  and  inland  postage;  and  there  is  nothing  under 
the  sun  in  the  amendment  of  the  Senate  but  the  mere 
saying  to  the  Postmaster-general,  'You  shall  have  the 
same  authority  to  contract  for  the  foreign  service  as 
you  now  have  to  contract  for  domestic  service,'  and 
makes  an  appropriation  to  carry  such  contracts  into 
effect.  .  .  . 

"We  cannot  and  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the 
advantage  of  connecting  this  country  with  the  South 
American  republics.  The  carrying  of  a  single  letter 
to  Chili  or  to  the  Argentine  Republic  may  lay  the 
foundation  of  a  trade  of  inestimable  value,  not  to 
these  steamship  companies,  but  to  all  the  American 
people.  Our  diversified  industries  are  capable  of 
giving  employment  to  all  our  laboring  people.  The 
field  and  the  factory,  the  forest  and  the  mine,  our 
facilities  for  employing  labor,  are  simply  boundless, 


224  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN  [188? 

and  yet  today  a  million  of  our  laboring  people  are  out 
of  employment,  and  the  bloody  hand  of  the  com 
munist  is  clutching  at  the  throat  of  capital. 

"We  might  give  employment  to  this  labor  if  we 
would.  But  if  we  employ  this  labor,  and  light  the 
fires  of  our  furnaces  and  open  the  mines  and  set  the 
looms  in  motion,  where  shall  we  dispose  of  the 
products?  At  our  very  door  is  the  answer.  We 
have  the  market  at  hand  if  we  are  wise  enough  to  con 
trol  it.  Within  a  stone's  throw  almost,  right  south  of 
us,  is  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  with  its  twenty-seven 
States,  with  a  government  patterned  after  our  own, 
with  ten  millions  and  a  half  of  people.  .  .  . 

"Who  controls  the  trade  of  Mexico,  lying  right 
upon  our  border?  Spain  takes  over  twenty-six  mil 
lions  of  it,  Germany  over  eighteen  millions  and  a  half, 
France  nearly  sixteen  millions,  while  the  United 
States  controls  less  than  ten  millions;  England  takes 
nine  millions,  and  the  Central  American  countries  two 
and  a  half  millions.  So  that  of  this  entire  trade  with 
Mexico  the  United  States  controls  but  a  trifle  over 
one-tenth,  while  nine-tenths  of  it  is  held  by  foreign 
countries. 

"Take  Central  America,  with  its  five  republics. 
Those  five  Central  American  republics  have  more 
trade  with  England  by  far — yes,  double  the  trade — 
than  they  have  with  the  United  States,  although  they 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      225 

lie  at  our  very  doors,  easily  accessible  from  the  ports 
of  the  Gulf  States.  Their  principal  imports  are 
cotton  goods.  We  could  furnish  every  yard  of  cotton 
goods  that  the  Central  American  countries  need,  but 
Great  Britain  in  1880  sold  them  31,000,000  yards, 
while  the  United  States  sold  them  only  688,OOO  yards 
— a  little  over  half  a  million.  .  .  . 

"South  America  imports  annually  enormous  quan 
tities  of  coal.  How  much  from  the  United  States? 
None;  she  brings  it  from  England.  Yet  our  coal 
mines  are  running  on  half  time  or  closed  up  altogether. 
Mexico  and  Central  and  South  America  consume 
annually  about  $100,OOO,OOO  worth  of  cotton  goods. 
How  much  do  they  buy  of  Great  Britain?  Ninety- 
five  per  cent.,  and  the  other  5  per  cent,  we  share  in 
simply.  There  is  no  reason  why  we  should  not  fur 
nish  all  her  cotton  fabrics,  and  these  constitute  the 
wearing  apparel  of  three-fourths  of  her  people.  .  .  . 

"To  those  South  American  countries  we  have  two 
lines  of  steamers — only  two.  We  have  one  line,  the 
Red  D  line,  running  from  New  York  to  Venezuela, 
and  another  line  running  from  New  York  and  New 
port  News  to  Brazil.  Outside  of  these  lines  there  is 
not  a  single  American  steamer  entering  a  port  of  the 
South  American  countries  or  flying  an  American  flag. 
The  Brazilian  line  has  three  steamers,  every  one  of 
them  American  built;  the  Venezuelan  line  seven, 


226  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1885 

all  of  American  construction.  We  thus  have  ten 
steamers  on  two  lines  running  to  Venezuela  and 
Brazil,  the  only  two  countries  of  all  the  South  Ameri 
can  republics  to  which  our  steamers  run.  And  for 
the  mail  service  to  these  two  countries  we  paid  last 
year  the  miserable  sum  of  $5,603.08.  .  .  .  The 
aggregate  amount  paid  for  carrying  the  mails  to  Cen 
tral  and  South  America  was  $15,136.16,  about  the 
same  sum  we  paid  from  Louisville,  Ky.,  to  Evansville, 
Ind.  This  is  the  extent  and  amount  of  compensation 
paid  American  steamships  for  carrying  our  mails  to 
Central  and  South  America;  and  if  you  want  to  reach 
any  other  country  in  South  America  today  aside  from 
Venezuela  and  Brazil  you  must  take  passage  to  Eng 
land  and  under  a  foreign  flag  reach  the  Argentine 
Republic,  her  capital  city  of  Buenos  Aires,  Uruguay, 
Chili,  or  any  other  of  the  great  eastern  or  western 
republics  of  South  America.  .  .  .  There  is  not  a  line 
running  from  the  United  States  down  the  western 
shore  of  South  America.  Now  and  then,  by  a  stray 
sailing  vessel,  American  goods  reach  her  ports,  but 
they  are  shipped  generally  to  Liverpool  and  Hamburg 
and  carried  under  a  foreign  flag  around  the  Horn. 
The  Royal  Mail  Steamship  Company  and  French  line 
monopolize  this  entire  trade,  and  do  it  not  by  being 
paid  the  sea  and  inland  postage,  but  are  aided  by 
liberal  compensation  for  carrying  the  mails.  How 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      227 

easily  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company  could 
extend  her  line  from  Panama  down  the  western  coast, 
but  the  United  States  says  to  her,  6If  you  take  that 
venture  we  will  give  you  only  the  postage  on  the 
letters  you  carry,  though  these  letters  may  lay  the 
foundation  for  a  great  trade  with  the  Republic  of 
Peru.9  .  .  . 

"We  pay  annually  to  foreign  ships  for  carrying  our 
mails  $280,000.  Why  not  do  something  for  our 
own  lines?  Only  $46,000  last  year  to  our  own 
steamship  lines.  We  produce  annually  eight  billions 
of  manufactured  goods,  seven  and  a  half  billions  of 
agricultural  products;  together,  fifteen  and  a  half 
billions, — and  we  need  a  market  for  our  surplus 
products.  Where  shall  we  find  it?  It  lies  at  our 
very  door.  It  is  amazing  to  me  that  when  a  proposi 
tion  is  made  to  expend  only  $400,000  to  existing 
lines  connecting  with  Central  and  South  America, 
with  China  and  Japan,  and  to  use  another  $400,000 
to  extend  these  lines  and  put  on  new  ones  that  may 
serve  to  connect  with  other  countries  and  open  the 
ports  of  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  States  to  the  commerce 
of  the  republics  of  South  America — it  is  amazing,  I 
say,  that  gentlemen  will  resist  it  on  either  side  of  the 
House. 

"What  object  is  there  in  opening  the  Mississippi 
River  at  an  expense  of  twenty,  thirty,  fifty  millions  of 


228  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1885 

dollars,  and  then  permit  the  commerce  she  carries  to 
be  borne  away  under  foreign  flags?  What  states 
manship  is  there  in  this?  What  sense  is  there  in 
expending  $450,000  on  the  harbor  of  Galveston  to 
give  an  outlet  for  commerce,  and  then  say  to  Ameri 
can  lines  proposing  to  carry  that  commerce,  'We  will 
pay  only  5  cents,  or  the  letter  postage,  for  carrying 
the  mails  between  that  harbor  and  the  ports  of  Central 
and  South  America'  ? 

"It  has  been  said  this  is  in  the  interest  of  the  steam 
ship  companies  alone.  That  is  not  true.  That  it 
will  advantage  them  no  one  can  deny,  but  that  they 
are  the  only  parties  to  be  benefited  is  wholly  ground 
less.  I  hold  in  my  hand  the  manifest  of  a  single 
steamship,  the  Finance,  of  the  Brazilian  line,  which 
sailed  from  New  York  on  the  28th  of  February  last. 
What  cargo  did  she  have  on  board?  She  had  on 
board,  going  from  the  United  States  to  those  South 
American  countries,  $250,000  worth  of  American 
goods, — a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars'  worth  of 
American  products  on  one  steamship  going  to  the 
markets  of  Brazil.  This  is  a  matter  that  concerns  the 
steamship  companies  alone?  .  .  . 

"I  hope  this  appropriation  will  be  made.  I  hope 
my  amendment  will  be  adopted,  allowing  $400,000 
to  be  used  on  the  present  lines,  and  authorizing  the 
Postmaster-general  to  use  the  balance  to  extend  those 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      229 

lines  and  to  put  on  new  ones.  I  would  not  permit 
England  to  hold  the  markets  of  Mexico,  Central  and 
South  America,  if  by  paying  a  liberal  compensation 
to  American  steamships  for  carrying  the  mails  I  could 
rescue  them  from  her.  This  can  be  done,  and  by  so 
doing  we  will  reopen  our  mines,  relight  our  furnaces, 
dispose  of  our  surplus  products,  give  employment  to 
labor  and  investment  to  capital,  and  augment  the 
prosperity  of  the  Nation  on  the  land  and  her  prowess 
upon  the  sea." 

By  far  the  most  important  measure  of  the  Forty- 
ninth  Congress  was  the  establishment  of  a  commission 
to  enforce  the  Inter-state  Commerce  Act,  which  for 
bade  discrimination  in  freight  charges,  pooling,  and 
rebating.  We  should  remember  that  Burrows,  in 
1874,  was  one  °f  tne  first  to  expound  the  rights  and 
limitations  of  Congress  as  applied  to  Inter-state  Com 
merce.1  He  was  peculiarly  fitted,  therefore,  to  take 
part  in  this  discussion,  and  contributed  important 
data  to  the  debate.  In  closing,  he  said:  "It  is  well, 
in  taking  possession  of  this  new  field  of  National 
occupancy,  that  we  move  with  extreme  caution.  We 
are  on  the  border  of  an  unexplored  territory,  and 
every  step  is  fraught  with  momentous  consequences. 
Vast  interests  are  involved.  In  redressing  wrongs 
we  must  invade  no  right,  and  advance  with  such 

iSee  page  152. 


230  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1885 

prudence  and  consideration  that  in  the  end  our 
National  domination  over  this  great  question  will  be 
to  all  a  National  blessing." 

The  work  of  the  Fiftieth  Congress  was  compara 
tively  unimportant,  but  the  Mills  Bill,  which  was  pro 
posed  as  the  Democratic  contribution  to  Tariff  legisla 
tion,  gave  Burrows  an  opportunity  to  demonstrate  his 
value  to  his  Party  and  to  establish  himself  as  one  of 
the  foremost  champions  of  Protection  in  the  country. 
His  speech  against  the  Bill  attracted  National  atten 
tion,  and  was  considered  so  important  a  Republican 
document  that  over  a  hundred  thousand  copies  were 
distributed  as  campaign  literature.  The  nature  of 
the  Bill  is  explained  and  extracts  from  Burrows9 
speech  are  given  in  a  later  chapter.1 

The  Presidential  campaign  of  1888  made  Tariff 
its  main  issue.  The  political  effect  of  the  Mills  Bill 
proved  to  be  far-reaching,  and  the  country  was 
thoroughly  aroused  from  coast  to  coast.  Tariff  was 
the  one  topic  of  conversation,  and  for  the  first  time  the 
Parties  were  squarely  aligned  against  each  other  upon 
this  important  subject.  The  Democratic  Party  wrote 
into  their  platform  a  specific  endorsement  of  the  Mills 
Bill,  while  the  Republicans  in  their  platform  declared 
unequivocally,  "We  are  uncompromisingly  in  favor  of 
the  American  system  of  Protection.  We  protest 

iSee  Chapter  VIII. 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      231 

against  its  destruction  as  proposed  by  the  President 
and  his  Party.  They  serve  the  interests  of  Europe; 
we  will  support  the  interests  of  America.  .  .  .  The 
protective  system  must  be  maintained.  Its  abandon 
ment  has  always  been  followed  by  disaster  to  all 
interests  except  those  of  the  usurer  and  the  sheriff. 
We  denounce  the  Mills  Bill  as  destructive  to  general 
business,  the  labor  and  the  farming  interests  of  the 
country." 

The  campaign  was  bitterly  fought  between  Har 
rison  and  Cleveland,  and  the  Democratic  candidate 
suffered  from  the  fact  that  the  public  had  become  con 
vinced  that  his  Party  was  pointed  towards  Free  Trade. 
In  vain  Cleveland  protested  that  it  was  Tariff  revision 
rather  than  Free  Trade,  but  his  statements  were  dis 
counted  by  the  over-enthusiasm  of  certain  Democrats, 
particularly  in  the  South,  who  made  no  attempt  to 
conceal  their  satisfaction  over  the  liberal  doctrines  he 
espoused.  Harrison,  in  his  letter  of  acceptance, 
stated  that  the  campaign  was  between  wide-apart 
principles  rather  than  between  schedules,  and 
referred  to  those  who  believed  in  the  Democratic  con 
tention  that  "the  tariff  is  a  tax,"  as  "students  of 
maxims,  not  of  markets." 

The  Republicans  won  both  in  the  Presidential  and 
Congressional  elections,  and  naturally  accepted  their 
victory  as  a  definite  verdict  in  favor  of  Protection. 


232  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1885 

Burrows  was  prominent  in  the  campaign,  but,  owing 
to  his  candidacy  for  reelection,  confined  his  activities 
to  political  engagements  in  Michigan  and  the  near-by 
States.  T.  B.  Reed  visited  Michigan  on  his  Western 
campaign  tour,  and  after  one  of  his  speeches  wrote  to 
Burrows  (October  15,  1888) :  "Your  Benton  Har 
bor  people  gave  me  a  delightful  meeting  and  have 
treated  me  royally.  I  was  specially  pleased  to  hear 
them  talk  so  well  of  you.  You  have  evidently  got 
where  the  district  is  yours  heart  and  soul." 

The  Fifty-first  Congress  convened  in  December, 
1889,  and  promptly  found  itself  in  a  hard-contested 
struggle  for  the  Speakership.  The  candidates  nar 
rowed  down  to  Thomas  B.  Reed  of  Maine,  Joseph  G. 
Cannon  of  Illinois,  David  B.  Henderson  of  Iowa, 
William  McKinley,  Jr.  of  Ohio,  and  Julius  C.  Burrows 
of  Michigan.  Reed  and  McKinley  led  in  the  first 
ballot,  and  the  contest,  as  it  developed,  proved  to  be 
between  these  two,  the  former  finally  winning  by  the 
majority  of  a  single  vote.  The  qualifications  pos 
sessed  by  Burrows  for  this  position  may  perhaps  be 
shown  by  quoting  from  what  General  Patrick  A. 
Collins,  then  a  Democratic  member  of  Congress,  said 
before  the  balloting  began: 

"Of  the  five  candidates,  I  consider  that  Mr.  Bur 
rows  would  make  the  best  Speaker,  and  I  know  Bur 
rows  less  than  any  of  the  others;  but  he  has  the 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      233 

presence,  the  voice,  the  temperament,  and  the  knowl 
edge  of  parliamentary  practice  and  rules  to  make  him 
preside  over  the  House  in  a  way  that  will  be  eminently 
satisfactory  to  his  own  Party,  and  win  for  him  the  re 
spect  of  ours.  As  a  good  Democrat,  I  hope  to  see 
Burrows  defeated.  I  would  rather  see  Reed  in  the 
chair,  because  he  would  most  likely  get  his  Party  in 
hot  water  before  he  had  been  there  very  long;  or  Mc- 
Kinley,  because  his  parliamentary  knowledge  is  ex 
tremely  limited;  or  Cannon,  because  he  loses  his 
temper; — but  if  I  were  a  Republican,  and  had  the 
good  of  the  Party  at  heart,  I  would  want  to  see  Bur 
rows  made  Speaker." 

Robert  Graves,  a  Washington  correspondent,  in 
speaking  of  the  intimacy  of  the  friendship  between 
Reed  of  Maine,  Burrows  of  Michigan,  Payne  of  New 
York,  Dolliver  of  Iowa,  and  Boutelle  of  Maine,  nar 
rates  the  following,  which  bears  upon  this  contest: 

"There  was  a  time  when  this  happy  band  was  in 
danger  of  collapse.  It  was  in  the  Fifty-first  Con 
gress,  when  Reed  was  candidate  for  Speaker.  He 
thought  the  other  fellows  along  with  other  Republi 
can  members  were  going  to  join  forces  in  the  ensuing 
Congress  for  the  purpose  of  making  Burrows  Speaker. 
Reed's  pride  was  so  much  hurt  by  this  that  he 
threatened  to  go  out  of  Congress,  decline  the  renom- 
ination,  and  retire  to  private  life.  Mr.  Dolliver  acted 


234  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN  [1885 

as  peacemaker.  He  invited  all  hands  to  dinner,  and 
over  the  walnuts  and  the  wine  every  one  pledged 
loyalty  to  Reed,  and  the  determination  of  that  gentle 
man  to  retire  to  private  life  was  withdrawn.  Dolli- 
ver's  little  dinner  may  have  changed  the  history  of  the 
Republican  Party." 

Reed's  personal  qualities  made  him  one  of  the  most 
powerful  and  brilliant  Speakers  in  the  history  of 
Congress,  and  the  firmness  with  which  he  ruled 
produced  a  well-organized  and  constructive  body  out 
of  a  demoralized  House.  He  broke  all  precedents  by 
declaring  that  the  Speaker  of  the  House  was  author 
ized  to  count  as  making  for  a  quorum  every  Represent 
ative  present  in  the  Chamber,  whether  he  answered  to 
roll-call  or  not.  The  Democrats  protested  angrily 
against  this  arbitrary  ruling,  but  Reed's  action  so 
hastened  the  transaction  of  business  and  so  prevented 
filibustering  that  the  Democrats  themselves,  when 
later  in  power,  adopted  what  became  known  as  the 
"Reed  rule."  This  made  the  Speaker  of  the  House 
virtually  a  dictator,  and,  after  the  President,  the  most 
powerful  man  in  the  Federal  Government. 

Speaker  Reed  promptly  appointed  his  rival  for  the 
Speakership,  William  McKinley,  Jr.,  of  Ohio,  as 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  and 
Burrows  was  named  second  on  that  Committee.  It 
was  an  exceptionally  strong  body,  including,  besides 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      235 

these  two,  Thomas  M.  Bayne  of  Pennsylvania,  Nelson 
Dingley,  Jr.,  of  Maine,  Joseph  McKenna  of  California, 
Sereno  E.  Payne  of  New  York,  Robert  M.  La  Follette 
of  Wisconsin,  John  H.  Gear  of  Iowa,  John  G.  Carlisle 
of  Kentucky,  Roger  Q.  Mills  of  Texas,  Benton  McMil- 
lin  of  Tennessee,  Roswell  P.  Flower  of  New  York,  and 
Clinton  R.  Breckinridge  of  Arkansas.  To  this  body 
of  men  was  entrusted  the  task  of  framing  what  became 
the  famous  McKinley  Bill,1  and  in  this  framing  Bur 
rows  played  an  important  part.  McKinley  himself 
said:  "No  man's  thought  and  labor  did  more  for  the 
Tariff  Bill  of  1890  than  did  that  of  Mr.  Burrows. 
For  months  he  gave  it  his  almost  undivided  time  and 
attention.  He  is  the  member  most  valued  and  appre 
ciated  by  the  Committee." 

iSee  Chapter  IX. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  PROTECTIONIST.     1885-1888 

A  STUDENT  could  find  no  better  source  of 
•**•  information  on  the  subject  of  Protection  phi 
losophy  in  the  United  States  than  the  speeches  made 
by  Burrows  during  his  campaigns  and  on  the  floor  of 
the  House  and  the  Senate.  It  was  a  subject  which 
early  attracted  his  interest,  and  to  it  he  devoted  over 
thirty  years  of  painstaking  study  and  investigation. 
As  a  result  of  this,  his  knowledge  on  Tariff  problems 
was  second  to  none,  and  as  a  member  of  the  Commit 
tee  on  Ways  and  Means  from  1887  to  1895,  and,  later, 
of  the  Senate  Finance  Committee,  he  found  ample 
opportunity  for  its  application.  The  minority  mem 
bers  of  the  Committee  were  given  no  opportunity  even 
to  consider  the  Mills  Bill  until  it  was  presented  to  the 
House,  but  in  the  substitute  Bill,  upon  which  the 
Republicans  worked  while  waiting  for  the  restoration 
of  their  Party  to  power,  and  out  of  which  the  McKin- 
ley  Bill  evolved,  Burrows  took  prominent  part  both 
in  its  construction  and  in  its  defense. 

Burrows    embraced   the   doctrine   of   Protection, 

together  with  thousands  of  other  Republicans,  before 

236 


1888]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      237 

it  became  so  powerful  an  ally  of  the  capitalists,  and 
remained  loyal  to  its  creed  because  he  believed  in  it, 
and  because  the  Party  which  always  stood  as  its 
sponsor  was  the  champion  of  so  many  questions  of 
great  National  importance.  More  than  this,  to  many 
it  would  have  seemed  unpatriotic,  almost  treason 
able,  during  the  years  immediately  following  the  Civil 
War,  to  have  advocated  Free  Trade,  for  that  had  been 
the  policy  of  the  slaveholders'  Party.  And,  finally, 
Burrows  had  seen  with  his  own  eyes  the  unparalleled 
prosperity  which  came  to  industry  and  commerce 
from  the  application  of  this  principle. 

At  the  time  when  Alexander  Hamilton  made  the 
first  formal  defense  of  Protection,  in  his  famous  report 
on  manufactures,  there  was  no  danger  of  having  tariff 
duties  manipulated  in  favor  of  special  interests, 
because  manufactures  scarcely  existed.  The  early 
idea  of  Protection  was  to  create  and  foster  rather  than 
to  protect.  If  manufacturing  interests  sprang  into 
existence  as  a  result  of  this  paternal  influence,  a 
demand  would  naturally  arise  for  the  consumption  of 
raw  material.  Furthermore,  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  needed  an  income  which  should  be  independent 
of  the  States,  and  a  discriminating  duty  upon  imports 
was  a  much  more  popular  method  of  securing  this 
than  a  direct  tax  upon  the  people.  All  American 
citizens  felt  the  importance  of  becoming  industrially 


238  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1885 

independent  if  the  Nation  was  to  become  great. 

While  it  was  generally  understood  that  when  the 
infant  industries  became  established  upon  a  firm  basis 
all  duties  might  be  abolished,  circumstances  com 
bined  to  commit  the  Federal  Government  to  a  definite 
policy  of  Protection.  With  the  establishment  of 
Free  Trade  between  the  States,  and  the  discriminating 
duties  upon  imports,  came  a  prosperity  beyond  all 
expectations.  The  struggle  between  France  and 
England  from  1806  to  1812,  followed  by  our  own  war 
with  England,  destroyed  American  commerce  and 
forced  the  country  to  become  commercially  self- 
reliant.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  the  United  States 
was  literally  swamped  by  the  importation  of  foreign 
goods,  and  self-preservation  brought  into  existence  a 
powerful  capitalistic  Party,  which  supported  the 
Federal  Government  in  maintaining  and  advancing  its 
protective  policy. 

When  the  Civil  War  broke  upon  the  country,  the 
Federal  Government  was  taxed  to  the  utmost  to 
develop  every  possible  source  of  revenue,  and  the 
capitalistic  Party  found  ready  listeners  at  Washing 
ton  to  its  suggestion  of  still  further  increasing  import 
duties.  England's  sympathy  with  the  South,  imper 
fectly  concealed,  was  so  obvious  an  effort  to  reduce 
this  country  to  a  position  where  she  should  produce 
raw  materials  only,  thus  destroying  American  compet- 


i888]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      239 

ing  manufactures,  that  another  powerful  argument 
was  added  in  favor  of  Protection.  After  the  success 
of  the  Northern  armies  it  was  never  forgotten  that 
written  into  the  Constitution  of  the  Confederate  States 
were  clauses  forbidding  Congress  "to  appropriate 
money  for  any  internal  improvement  intended  to 
facilitate  commerce,"  and  prescribing  that  "no  boun 
ties  shall  be  granted  from  the  Treasury,  nor  shall  any 
taxes  on  imports  from  foreign  nations  be  laid  to 
promote  or  foster  any  branch  of  domestic  industry." 

After  the  Civil  War  the  country  turned  rapidly 
from  agriculture  to  manufactures,  and  the  capitalistic 
Party  gained  in  strength  and  aggressiveness.  Those 
engaged  in  the  production  of  raw  materials,  quick  to 
see  the  advantages  accruing  to  the  manufacturers, 
demanded  equal  protection  for  themselves,  and 
received  the  forced  support  of  the  now  "favored 
class."  In  order  to  justify  this,  it  was  argued  that 
foreign  trade  was  at  best  an  evil  to  be  diminished  to 
as  great  an  extent  as  possible;  that  high  prices  should 
be  maintained  in  order  to  permit  high  wages;  that 
the  home  market  should  be  protected  for  home 
products. 

The  Republican  Party  at  its  birth  stood  for  Protec 
tion,  and  whether  willingly  or  not  this  principle  was 
stamped  indelibly  upon  its  standard  by  the  circum 
stances  already  cited.  It  was  the  Republican  Party 


240  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1885 

which  preserved  the  Union,  which  maintained  the 
payment  of  State  and  National  debts,  and  in  this  way 
it  gained  prestige  which  reflected  credit  upon  all  its 
tenets.  During  its  administration  National  and 
international  relations  prospered,  and  the  tendency 
of  the  country  was  unquestionably  in  the  direction  of 
capitalistic  development, — the  railroads  and  the 
canals  opened  up  the  great  natural  resources  to  the 
people,  the  National  expansion  of  free  education 
made  that  people  competent  to  receive  the  benefits. 
It  is  not  strange  that  Burrows  should  have  been 
staunch  in  his  conviction  that  Protection  was  one  of 
the  greatest  boons  his  Party  had  conferred  upon  his 
country,  or  that  he  should  have  proved  so  able  an 
exponent  and  defendant  of  the  principle  itself. 

Until  the  nomination  of  Grover  Cleveland  in  1884 
for  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States,  the  long 
supremacy  of  the  Republican  Party  precluded  any 
danger  of  having  the  principle  seriously  undermined; 
the  discussion  related  simply  to  the  means  and  method 
of  arranging  the  tariff.  Burrows,  therefore,  had  little 
occasion  to  express  himself  forcefully  upon  this  par 
ticular  phase  of  Republicanism  until  he  found  him 
self,  with  his  fellow-Republicans,  face  to  face  with 
the  real  issue  of  Protection  against  Free  Trade  in  this 
Presidential  campaign.  On  October  20,  1884,  he 
made  an  address  before  the  Michigan  farmers,  and 


i888]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      241 

explained  the  importance  of  Protection  in  its  relation 
to  agriculture.  It  is  an  excellent  example  of  his 
methods  of  expounding  the  doctrines  in  which  he 
believed: 

"It  must  be  apparent  to  every  one,"  he  said,  "that 
in  some  way  we  must  meet  the  annual  expenses  of 
this  Government.  No  one  would  think  it  wise  or 
prudent,  no  one  would  call  it  good  statesmanship,  not 
to  provide  for  these  yearly  expenses.  It  is  estimated 
that  it  takes  some  $300,000,000.  With  a  popula 
tion  of  50,000,000  people,  if  we  should  resort  to 
direct  taxation  it  would  compel  every  man,  woman, 
and  child  in  this  Republic  to  pay  $6  apiece  annually. 
We  do  not  collect  this  revenue  by  direct  taxation,  but 
we  collect  it  by  the  imposition  of  the  tariff,  and  the 
imposition  of  a  direct  tax  on  the  people  would  cer 
tainly  be  very  unpopular  and  end  in  revolution.  So 
the  fathers,  at  the  time  of  the  foundation  of  the 
Republic,  wisely  determined  to  resort  to  the  method 
of  indirect  taxation,  or  the  imposition  of  duties  on 
imported  goods,  as  the  best  means  of  raising  the 
requisite  amount  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  Gov 
ernment.  The  first  Congress,  at  its  first  session 
under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  passed  as 
its  second  Act  a  measure  imposing  duties  on  foreign 
imports ;  and  the  first  Act  signed  by  George  Washing 
ton,  saving  the  Act  regulating  the  oath  of  office,  was 


242  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1885 

an  Act  imposing  duty,  or  a  tariff,  on  imported  goods. 
From  the  foundation  of  the  Government  till  this  very 
moment  there  has  never  been  a  year  or  a  month  or  an 
hour  when  this  policy  has  been  abandoned.  All 
Parties,  at  all  times,  have  insisted  on  a  tariff.  The 
exact  point  of  difference  then,  today,  between  the 
Democratic  Party  and  the  Republican  Party  is  this: 
the  Democratic  Party  insists  that  in  its  imposition  no 
regard  shall  be  had  to  domestic  industries,  no  regard 
had  to  domestic  labor,  no  regard  had  to  National 
prosperity;  but  duties  shall  be  imposed  solely  with 
the  view  of  collecting  a  sufficient  amount  to  defray  the 
expenses  of  the  Government. 

"A  tariff  for  revenue  only, — what  is  it?  A  fair 
illustration  would  be  the  imposition  of  a  duty  on 
coffee,  tea,  indigo;  things  not  produced  in  this  coun 
try  and  which  cannot  be  produced  in  this  country. 
The  revenue  derived  from  this  source  would  be  purely 
and  strictly  a  revenue  tariff.  It  could  have  no 
element  of  protection  in  it,  because  there  is  no  domes 
tic  industry  of  the  kind  to  be  protected. 

"The  Republican  Party  takes  clear  and  sharp  issue 
with  the  Democratic  Party  on  that  question,  and  says, 
'No;  do  not  make  this  imposition  of  duty  on  articles 
not  produced  in  this  country.  Let  tea,  coffee,  things 
not  produced  here,  come  in  free;  but  impose  this  duty 
on  articles  that  we  do  produce  or  can  produce':  and 


1888]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      243 

the  Party  affirms  that  by  so  doing  we  will  accomplish 
a  double  purpose.  First,  we  shall  raise  the  necessary 
revenue  to  meet  the  annual  expenses  of  the  Govern 
ment,  and  we  shall  do  a  further  and  a  better  thing, — 
we  shall  encourage,  foster,  and  build  up  domestic 
industries,  and  give  employment  to  American  capital 
and  protection  to  American  labor.  .  .  . 

"I  suppose  that  every  farmer  will  concede  that  he 
does  not  till  the  soil  for  the  pleasure  of  it.  He  labors 
not  only  to  provide  for  his  own  family,  for  his  own 
wants,  but  to  accumulate  a  competence  for  his  declin 
ing  years.  To  accumulate  that  competence  it  is 
necessary  for  him  to  have  a  market  for  his  surplus 
products.  It  is  of  the  highest  importance  to  the 
farmer  that  his  markets  shall  be  as  near  to  his  farm 
as  possible,  and  the  nearer  his  market  can  be  brought 
to  his  farm  the  more  valuable  will  be  his  products. 
No  one  can  question  that.  It  follows,  therefore,  that 
if  you  had  to  rely  entirely  on  a  foreign  market  for  the 
sale  of  your  surplus  products  the  value  of  them  would 
be  very  largely  diminished,  for  the  cost  of  transporta 
tion  comes  out  of  the  value  of  the  product  as  you  take 
it  from  the  farm.  .  .  . 

"Secondly,  a  protective  tariff  benefits  the  farmer  in 
giving  him  a  steady  market.  What  the  farmer  wants, 
quite  as  much  as  a  market,  is  a  steady  market,  so  that 
when  he  sows  his  broad  acres  in  the  Fall  he  may  know 


244  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1885 

in  advance  that  he  can  reap  with  profit.  Suppose  we 
had  no  consuming  class  in  the  United  States,  and  the 
farmer  had  to  depend  upon  the  foreign  market  for  the 
sale  of  his  surplus  product.  One  year  there  would  be 
a  dearth  in  Europe,  and  she  would  take  all  the  surplus 
products  of  the  farms  of  the  United  States.  Then 
the  farmer,  trusting  upon  that  market,  would  sow 
broader  fields,  and  lay  the  foundation  for  richer 
harvests;  but  the  next  year  comes  and  the  harvests 
are  bountiful  in  Europe,  and  Europe  at  once  says  to 
the  farmers  of  the  United  States,  'We  have  no  use  for 
your  surplus  products,'  and  the  wheat  and  the  corn 
rot  in  the  stack  or  in  the  crib. 

"But  a  protective  tariff  benefits  the  farmer  in  the 
third  place,  by  increasing  the  value  of  his  farm  lands. 
The  value  of  his  farm  products  is  not  only  increased 
by  this  home  market,  but  the  value  of  the  farm  itself 
is  enhanced  by  building  up  manufacturing  industries. 
I  do  not  make  this  statement  without  knowing  whereof 
I  affirm.  If  I  should  call  the  roll  of  States,  you  would 
be  amazed  to  find  that  in  those  States  where  manu 
facturing  is  the  greatest  the  value  of  farm  lands  is  the 
highest,  and  in  those  States  where  manufacturing  is 
the  least  the  value  of  farm  lands  is  the  least.  .  .  . 

"But  a  protective  tariff  benefits  the  farmer  in  other 
ways.  It  gives  a  market  for  the  farmer  for  things 


i888]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      245 

that  he  could  not  otherwise  dispose  of,  and  which  on 
his  farm  he  regards  as  substantially  valueless.  .  .  . 

"There  is  another  industry  affected  by  the  tariff  in 
which  the  farmer  is  specially  interested.  I  allude  to 
the  wool  industry.  The  sheep  growers  of  this  district, 
and  of  the  whole  country,  are  deeply  interested  in  the 
wool  industry  of  the  United  States.  It  sprang  into 
existence  under  a  protective  tariff.  The  farmers 
have  invested  in  their  flocks  the  accumulation  of  long 
years.  They  were  led  to  do  this  by  the  protection  of 
this  industry,  and  we  have  reached  a  point  in  1884 
when  the  destruction  of  this  industry  is  seriously 
threatened.  .  .  .  More  than  a  million  men  are  today 
flock-masters  in  the  United  States.  These  flocks  are 
increasing  not  only  in  number,  but  in  quality.  If 
this  industry  is  not  protected  it  certainly  will  go  to  the 
wall.  The  wool-growers  of  the  United  States  cannot 
compete  with  the  wool-growers  of  South  America  and 
Australia.  In  the  first  place,  take  the  Australian 
wool, — it  is  just  as  good  a  wool,  if  not  better,  than  you 
can  grow.  They  are  increasing  their  flocks  of  sheep 
beyond  all  calculations.  They  herd  them  on  lands 
which  they  rent  by  the  year  for  a  penny  an  acre. 
They  have  no  sheds  or  barns,  for  it  is  perpetual  sum 
mer.  They  shear  the  sheep  twice  a  year.  They  feed 
them  nothing  in  the  Winter,  for  there  is  no  Winter; 


246  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1885 

and  they  can  grow  that  wool  and  lay  it  down  in  your 
market,  at  a  profit,  for  twelve  or  fifteen  cents  a 
pound.  Where  is  there  a  wool-grower  in  my  hearing 
this  afternoon  who  is  prepared  to  say  that  it  would  pay 
him  to  continue  in  the  wool  industry  if  wool  was  only 
twelve  or  fifteen  cents  a  pound?  Free  trade  in  wool 
would  simply  drive  your  flocks  to  the  slaughter 
pens."  .  .  . 

By  electing  Cleveland  the  country  seemed  to 
express  its  desire  to  test  out  more  liberal  trade  condi 
tions  as  against  Protection.  Whatever  may  have 
been  Cleveland's  personal  attitude  in  the  matter  of 
tariff,  he  found  himself  confronted  by  a  serious  prob 
lem.  The  excess  of  receipts  over  expenditures  was 
placing  the  Administration  in  a  really  dangerous 
position ;  tax  reduction  could  not  be  secured,  and  the 
President  failed  to  come  to  any  agreement  with  his 
Party  on  expenditures,  the  net  result  being  that  the 
Treasury  Department  had  no  alternative  other  than 
to  store  up  its  funds  or  to  buy  bonds  in  the  open 
market.  For  the  Treasury  to  retain  one  year's  sur 
plus  revenue  meant  that  the  monetary  circulation 
must  be  reduced  at  least  one-twelfth,  and  such  a  con 
traction  made  a  financial  crisis  not  only  possible  but 
probable.  Cleveland  became  convinced  that  tax 
reduction  was  absolutely  imperative,  declaring  that 
his  position  was  taken  on  the  ground  of  excess  revenue 


O 


1888]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      247 

only,  and  not  necessarily  in  opposition  to  the  protec 
tive  system.  He  further  suggested  that  these  reduc 
tions  be  made  upon  necessities  rather  than  upon 
luxuries. 

Suffering  from  a  lack  of  financial  leadership  in  the 
House,  the  Democratic  Party  floundered  about  trying 
to  find  a  way  out  of  their  difficulty.  William  R. 
Morrison  of  Illinois,  Chairman  of  the  Ways  and 
Means  Committee,  introduced  various  Tariff  meas 
ures,  but  failed  to  secure  the  support  even  of  his  own 
Party.  Cleveland  continued  to  bring  pressure  to 
bear  upon  Congress,  doing  his  best  to  educate  his 
Party,  his  efforts  culminating  in  his  annual  message 
of  December,  1887,  which  was  devoted  entirely  to 
revenue  reform.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that  Cleveland 
always  disavowed  the  imputation  of  being  a  Free- 
Trader,  this  message  was  accepted  as  nothing  less 
than  a  Free  Trade  document,  and  the  President  was 
immediately  placed  in  the  ranks  of  the  pronounced 
Tariff  Reformers. 

Roger  Q.  Mills  of  Texas  had  now  become  Chairman 
of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee,  and  to  him  was 
entrusted  the  task  of  formulating  a  Tariff  Bill  which 
should  accomplish  the  ideas  which  the  President 
advocated.  When  this  document,  known  as  the  Mills 
Bill,  was  finally  presented  to  the  House,  it  brought 
forth  one  of  the  most  remarkable  debates  in  the 


248  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1885 

history  of  Congress.  It  consumed  a  record  amount 
of  time,  and  its  political  effect  was  tremendously  far- 
reaching.  In  it  the  revision  reached  every  schedule 
of  the  tariff,  but  it  was  inconsistent  in  its  relation  to 
different  industries,  and,  taken  as  a  whole,  could  not 
be  considered  as  successful  in  accomplishing  the 
reduction  which  was  the  reason  for  its  consideration. 
It  was  decidedly  sectional  in  its  nature,  sacrificing  the 
protection  of  certain  industries  which  flourished  in 
Republican  States  while  giving  protection  to  indus 
tries  which  were  already  prospering  in  Democratic 
States.  The  methods  employed  in  preparing  the  Bill 
were  also  open  to  criticism,  as  the  Republican  mem 
bers  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  were  kept 
entirely  in  the  dark  until  the  Bill  itself  was  reported 
to  the  House.  The  Mills  Bill  was  finally  passed 
through  the  House  by  a  narrow  margin,  but  received 
its  death  blow  in  the  Republican  Senate;  so  that  its 
greatest  importance  may  be  said  to  have  been  its 
effect  upon  the  campaign  of  1888. 

A  spectator,  seated  in  the  diplomatic  gallery,  has 
recorded  the  following  graphic  description  of  the 
scene  in  the  House  when  Burrows  delivered  his  speech 
against  the  Bill: 

"Every  seat,  above  and  below,  was  occupied,  and 
every  inch  of  standing  room  to  the  doors.  On  the 
Democratic  side  members  appeared  busy,  some  writ- 


1888]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      249 

ing,  some  reading  papers  which  were  uneasily  and 
frequently  turned  as  if  their  readers  were  unable  to 
find  anything  of  interest.  Their  ears  were  evidently 
more  attent  than  their  eyes.  Every  word  that  fell 
from  the  speaker's  lips  was  caught  with  earnest 
interest  by  every  person  in  the  Hall  of  Congress. 
The  suppressed  excitement  was  intense.  When  Mr. 
Burrows  reached  the  closing  portion  of  his  speech  and 
touched  on  the  South,  laying  aside  his  notes  and 
stepping  from  the  side  of  his  desk,  the  members  on 
the  other  side  who  had  feigned  giving  attention  to 
other  things,  turned.  Papers  were  dropped.  Pens 
with  their  tiny  store  of  ink  remained  idle  in  the  hand. 
The  speech  closed  amidst  a  tremendous  outburst  from 
the  crowds  assembled.  The  throng  rushed  for  the 
speaker, — friends  who  admired  and  sympathized  with 
the  sentiments  of  the  speech,  not  unmingled  with 
opponents  who  admired  its  candor  and  brilliance. 
Mr.  Burrows  was  overwhelmed  with  congratulations." 

The  following  extracts  from  this  speech  show  the 
results  of  the  thoroughgoing  and  consistent  thought 
Burrows  gave  to  the  subject  of  Tariff  legislation: 

"That  the  accumulation  of  such  a  surplus  must  be 
averted  there  can  be  no  question.  A  constantly- 
accruing  and  ever-increasing  surplus  not  only  invites 
to  profligacy,  but  insures  swift  financial  disaster. 
There  can  be,  therefore,  no  conflict  of  opinion  but 


250  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1885 

that  there  must  be  such  a  modification  of  our  tax  laws 
as  will  insure  a  reduction  of  revenue  to  the  basis  of 
probable  Governmental  expenditure.  This  would 
seem  to  be  a  problem  easily  solved;  and  indeed  its 
solution  would  be  attended  with  little  difficulty  if  no 
other  result  was  to  be  obtained  than  a  reduction  of  the 
surplus.  In  each  case  it  would  only  be  necessary  to 
ascertain  the  sources  of  revenue,  and  then  cut  off 
indiscriminately  sufficient  to  insure  the  desired  result. 
But  a  reduction  of  the  revenue  is  not  the  only  nor 
indeed  the  chief  end  to  be  attained.  The  method  by 
which  that  reduction  is  to  be  accomplished  has  become 
the  main  point  of  controversy,  and,  indeed,  the  only 
point  about  which  there  is  any  serious  conflict  of 
opinion.  Shall  the  proposed  reduction  be  taken 
from  internal  or  from  customs  revenues,  or  from 
both;  and  if  from  both,  in  what  proportion  from  each? 
These  are  the  questions  of  chief  concern,  and  here 
Parties  divide  and  here  the  conflict  begins. 

"What  is  the  occasion  for  this  division — why  this 
conflict?  It  is  this:  we  derive  our  revenues  from  two 
sources,  internal  taxation  and  a  tax  on  imports.  Our 
tariff  on  imports  is  today  confessedly  protective  in 
that  it  is  levied  not  with  a  view  to  raising  'revenue 
only'  but  to  protect  American  labor  and  encourage 
American  industries.  The  Democratic  Party,  or  at 
least  one  wing  of  it  under  the  leadership  of  President 


1888]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      251 

Cleveland,  assails  this  system,  denouncing  it  as 
Vicious  and  illogical,'  and  declares  it  to  be  not  only 
unwise  but  unconstitutional;  that  duties  on  imports 
should  be  levied,  in  the  language  of  the  last  National 
Democratic  platform,  for  'revenue  only,'  submitting 
of  course  to  such  accidental  protection  as  may  be 
incident  thereto  as  an  evil  to  be  endured  rather  than 
an  end  to  be  attained.  On  the  contrary,  the  Repub 
lican  Party  believes  in  a  protective  tariff;  that  in 
imposing  duties  upon  imports  revenue  is  not  the  only 
consideration,  but  that  these  duties  should  be  so 
adjusted  as  to  give  encouragement  to  American  enter 
prise,  investment  to  American  capital,  and  employ 
ment  to  American  labor;  and  the  Republican  Party 
insists  that  our  present  protective  system  shall  not  be 
disturbed  except  so  far  as  it  may  be  necessary  to  cor 
rect  its  incongruities  and  harmonize  its  provisions. 

"With  these  two  conflicting  theories  it  is  easy  to 
understand  why  the  contest  arises,  at  the  very  thresh 
old,  upon  the  method  of  reduction.  If  we  reduce  our 
revenues  by  removing  or  materially  lessening  internal 
taxes,  our  protective  system  cannot  be  seriously  dis 
turbed;  on  the  contrary,  if  we  follow  the  lead  of  the 
President  and  secure  a  reduction  by  such  a  revision 
of  the  tariff  as  he  proposes,  leaving  untouched  our 
internal  revenues,  not  only  will  our  protective  system 
be  destroyed,  but  the  Nation  itself  will  be  well  out  on 


252  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1885 

the  highway  to  Free  Trade.  Therefore  it  is  that  the 
Free-Trader  would  take  as  little  as  possible  from 
internal  taxation  that  he  may  more  successfully  assail 
our  protective  policy;  while  the  Protectionist  would 
take  as  much  as  possible  from  internal  revenues  that 
he  may  more  surely  defend  it.  At  the  foundation, 
therefore,  of  this  controversy  lies  the  question  of 
policy,  which  must  be  first  settled  before  we  can  come 
to  an  intelligent  consideration  of  the  Committee's 
Bill;  and  as  we  are  Free-Traders  or  Protectionists  that 
Bill  will  be  approved  or  condemned. 

"I  propose,  therefore,  at  this  time  to  submit  some 
general  observations  touching  our  revenue  system, 
leaving  the  discussion  of  the  details  of  the  proposed 
measure  to  an  occasion  when  their  consideration  will 
be  immediately  in  hand.  I  may  pause  a  moment, 
however,  in  passing,  to  say  of  this  measure  as  a  whole 
that  in  its  inception  and  presentation  to  this  House 
it  stands  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  American 
legislation.  Conceived  in  darkness,  brought  forth  in 
secrecy, — its  parentage  carefully  concealed, — it  was 
at  last  laid  at  the  door  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and 
Means,  where  the  majority  took  it  up  as  tenderly  as 
though  it  were  their  legitimate  offspring,  and  hur 
riedly  brought  the  'lump  of  deformity'  into  this 
House,  to  be  adopted  by  the  Democratic  Party  and 
nursed  by  the  harlot  of  Free  Trade.  But  whatever 


i888]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      253 

its  parentage,  whether  British  Free-Trader  or  the 
Cobden  Club, — either  of  whom  is  capable  of  the  out 
rage, — justice  compels  me  to  state  that  public 
suspicion  does  not  attach  to  any  member  of  the 
minority;  and  in  further  vindication  of  their  high 
character  it  will  be  no  violation  of  the  secrets  of  the 
committee-room  to  state  that,  when  pressed  upon  this 
point,  there  was  no  member  of  the  majority  so  lost  to 
all  sense  of  personal  pride  as  to  admit  the  parentage. 
"But  seriously.  Think  of  the  majority  of  a  great 
committee  of  this  House,  charged  with  the  duty  of 
considering  an  important  message  of  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  hiding  away  from  the  minority  of 
that  committee  for  six  weeks  and  in  some  secret  place, 
taking  counsel  possibly  of  the  enemies  of  our  indus 
tries,  without  consultation  with  the  minority,  framing 
a  measure  involving  the  industrial  prosperity  of  60,- 
OOO,OOO  people;  and,  when  completed  and  presented 
to  the  full  committee,  that  same  majority  refusing  to 
enter  upon  consideration  of  its  provisions  or  to  dis 
close  any  data  upon  which  their  action  was  based; 
stolidly  refusing  to  answer  any  and  every  question 
propounded  by  the  minority  touching  any  portion  of 
the  Bill;  submitting  to  no  modification  in  a  single 
particular,  unless  suggested  by  the  majority;  declin 
ing  to  listen  to  any  member  of  this  House  in  behalf  of 
the  people  he  represents;  refusing  audience  to  Sena- 


254  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1885 

tors,  the  industries  of  whose  States  were  to  be  crippled 
or  destroyed;  rejecting  all  appeals  from  manufac 
turers  whose  connection  with  their  industries  enabled 
them  to  point  out  the  pernicious  effects  of  the  pro 
posed  measure;  refusing  to  hear  one  word  of  protest 
from  the  farmer  whose  flocks  and  fields  are  to  be 
despoiled;  shutting  the  door  of  the  committee-room 
in  the  face  of  the  laboring  men  of  the  country  who 
came  to  plead  for  the  protection  of  their  homes  and 
their  families.  Imagine,  I  say,  such  conduct  on  the 
part  of  a  committee  of  this  House,  and  you  have  a 
faint  conception  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and 
Means  of  the  Fiftieth  Congress. 

6 'But  to  resume  the  course  of  my  argument.  We 
have  today  a  double  system  of  taxation,  direct  and 
indirect.  Heretofore  it  has  never  been  the  settled 
policy  of  the  Government  permanently  to  maintain 
both.  A  choice  of  methods  was  open  to  the  founders 
of  the  Republic,  and  they  wisely  determined  to  raise 
the  needed  revenue  for  the  support  of  the  Govern 
ment  by  imposing  a  duty  on  imports.  That  method 
has  never  been  suspended.  It  has  undergone  modifi 
cations,  at  different  times,  to  conform  to  Party  de 
mands,  but  it  has  never  for  an  hour  been  wholly  aban 
doned.  It  is  the  approved  and  established  method 
of  providing  for  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the  Govern 
ment.  True,  direct  taxation  has  sometimes  been 


i888]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      255 

resorted  to  to  meet  unforeseen  National  emergencies, 
but  heretofore  it  has  always  been  abandoned  as  soon 
as  the  exigency  has  passed.  Previous  to  the  War  of 
the  Rebellion  direct  taxation  was  invoked  only  in  two 
instances, — first  in  1791,  to  meet  the  extraordinary 
demands  of  a  new  Government  with  an  empty  treas 
ury  and  an  unestablished  credit,  and  again  in  1813, 
to  provide  the  sinews  of  war  in  the  second  conflict 
with  Great  Britain.  In  both  instances,  however, 
direct  taxation  was  abandoned  at  the  earliest  moment 
consistent  with  National  honor  and  safety.  The  law 
of  1791  remained  in  force  but  nine  years,  and  was 
repealed  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  President  Jeffer 
son,  while  the  Act  of  1813,  after  having  been  on  the 
statute  books  but  four  years,  was  expunged  upon  the 
recommendation  of  President  Monroe.  .  .  . 

"Assuming  that  the  American  people  will  not 
abandon  a  policy  adopted  by  the  fathers  and  approved 
by  a  century  of  experience,  I  come  to  the  considera 
tion  of  the  vital  point  at  issue,  namely,  upon  what 
articles  shall  duties  be  imposed,  and  to  what  extent 
shall  they  be  levied, — with  regard  to  revenue  only 
or  for  the  double  purpose  of  revenue  and  protection? 
Shall  the  theories  of  the  Free-Trader  prevail  and 
dominate  in  the  revision  of  our  tariff,  or  shall  it  con 
tinue  to  be  adjusted  not  only  with  a  view  to  revenue 
but  for  the  promotion  of  American  interests?  This 


256  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1885 

is  the  question  at  issue.  In  this  contest  the  Repub 
lican  Party  takes  the  side  of  Protection,  and  will 
resist  to  the  uttermost  any  attempt  coming  from  what 
ever  source  it  may  to  cripple  American  industries, 
destroy  American  capital,  or  pauperize  American 
labor.  .  .  . 

"But  what  is  the  revision  proposed  by  this  Bill? 
First,  by  putting  on  the  free-list  articles  which  last 
year  yielded  a  revenue  of  $22,,OOO,OOO.  Now,  all 
Parties  agree  that  anything  and  everything  which  is 
not  and  cannot  be  produced  in  this  country,  and  can 
not  therefore  come  in  competition  with  any  domestic 
industry,  shall  be  admitted  free  of  duty.  But  the 
free-list  in  this  Bill  goes  far  beyond  that,  and  exposes 
to  foreign  assault  many  of  our  most  important  indus 
tries,  particularly  those  of  agriculture.  There  is  not 
a  schedule  of  our  tariff  it  does  not  invade.  The  great 
wool-growing  interest  of  the  country,  a  matter  of 
prime  necessity  to  a  civilized  people,  only  in  the  in 
fancy  of  its  development,  capable  of  producing,  if 
properly  fostered  and  encouraged,  the  material  for 
the  clothing  of  all  our  people,  is  to  be  exposed  to  a 
ruinous  foreign  competition  which  will  surely  prove 
its  ultimate  destruction  with  all  the  capital  invested 
therein.  The  majority  of  the  Committee  on  Ways 
and  Means,  in  their  report  on  this  Bill,  seek  to  delude 
the  people  with  the  idea  that  free  wool  means  cheaper 


i888]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      257 

wool,  and  with  it  cheaper  clothing,  and  that  the 
farmers  can  well  afford  to  submit  to  the  destruction  of 
sheep  husbandry  that  they  may  thereby  obtain 
cheaper  woolen  goods. 

"That  wool  would  be  cheaper  while  our  foreign 
rivals  were  engaged  in  destroying  this  domestic  indus 
try  is  quite  possible;  but  when  they  have  completed 
their  work  of  demolition,  when  they  have  driven  our 
flocks  to  the  slaughter-pen  and  eliminated  from  our 
market  an  annual  production  of  3OO,OOO,OOO  pounds 
of  domestic  wool,  we  will  find  ourselves  bound  hand 
and  foot,  manufacturers  and  consumers  alike,  at  the 
mercy  of  the  foreign  producer.  What  restraint 
then  will  there  be  upon  his  power  or  cupidity? 

"What  I  have  said  touching  this  industry  will 
apply  with  equal  force  to  the  main  body  of  the  free- 
list.  But  I  must  pass  on  to  the  third  method  pro 
posed,  namely,  the  reduction  of  rates  on  the  dutiable 
list,  and  here  we  enter  the  field  of  speculation.  Now, 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that,  taking  this  measure 
as  a  whole,  no  man  living,  even  if  a  member  of  the 
secret  cabal  that  framed  it,  is  audacious  enough  to 
predict  with  any  degree  of  certainty  the  amount  of 
reduction  it  will  secure.  .  .  . 

"But  I  have  alluded  to  this  in  this  connection  not 
so  much  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  impracticabil 
ity  of  the  proposed  method,  as  to  call  attention  to  the 


258  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1885 

fact  that  the  majority  of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and 
Means  proposed  to  take  only  $24,000,000  from  in 
ternal  taxation,  while  a  reduction  of  $54,000,000  is 
attempted  to  be  secured  by  the  lowering  or  total  aboli 
tion  of  duties  on  imports  in  the  interest  of  foreign 
rival  industries,  and  to  the  detriment  and  destruction 
of  our  own.  This  fact  alone  is  sufficient  to  confirm 
public  apprehension  and  belief  that  the  Democratic 
Party,  or  at  least  the  controlling  wing  of  it,  while 
professing  an  anxiety  to  relieve  the  people  of  unnec 
essary  taxation,  is  much  more  anxious  to  destroy  our 
protective  system  than  to  stop  the  accumulation  of  a 
needless  surplus.  With  an  easy  and  open  way  to  a 
sure  and  ample  reduction  of  the  revenues  without 
disturbing  a  single  American  industry  or  paralyzing 
a  single  arm  of  labor,  yet  the  Democratic  Party  de 
clines  to  walk  therein,  preferring  that  other  course, 
strewn  with  the  wrecks  of  a  Nation's  experience,  and 
fraught  with  the  utmost  peril  to  all  our  interests  and 
all  our  people.  .  .  . 

"The  President  seeks  to  allay  public  apprehension 
in  this  regard  by  declaring  that  in  the  execution  of 
this  plan  care  will  be  taken  not  to  cripple  or  destroy 
our  manufactures  or  work  'loss  of  employment  to  the 
working-man  or  the  lessening  of  his  wages.'  As  if 
his  plan  could  be  carried  out  without  working  such  a 
result!  As  well  might  the  surgeon,  having  an- 


1888]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      259 

nounced  his  intention  to  remove  the  heart  of  his 
patient,  seek  to  allay  his  fears  by  the  assurance  that 
he  would  not  disturb  his  circulation  or  impair  his 
physical  energies!  One  is  as  preposterous  as  the 
other.  But  the  President,  and  I  suppose  the  authors 
and  advocates  of  this  measure,  will  endeavor  to  in 
duce  the  American  people  to  submit  to  this  suicidal 
operation  by  administering  some  sort  of  narcotic, 
which  for  the  moment  will  dethrone  their  judgment 
and  make  them  oblivious  to  the  dangers  of  the  experi 
ment.  And  here  let  me  say  there  is  nothing  so  con 
ducive  to  this  state  of  insensibility  as  the  seductive 
influence  of  that  theory  that  a  duty  on  imports  is  a 
tax  on  the  consumer.  Once  induce  the  people  to 
believe  that  they  are  unjustly  taxed  and  there  is  no 
political  quackery  they  will  not  endure  which  gives 
promise  of  relief.  Conscious  of  this  fact,  the  Presi 
dent  in  his  annual  message  reasserts  in  the  most  posi 
tive  manner  that  theory,  which  I  had  supposed  was 
long  since  exploded,  that  a  duty  imposed  upon  an 
imported  article  by  so  much  enhances  the  price  of 
such  article  to  the  consumer,  and  that  therefore  the 
removal  of  such  duty  would  proportionately  reduce 
the  price.  .  .  . 

"But  what  answer  is  to  be  made  to  this  theory? 
There  is  one  at  least  comprehensive  and  complete. 
It  is  not  true.  I  commend  to  the  President  his  ad- 


260  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1885 

monition  to  others,  to  remember  6it  is  a  condition 
which  confronts  us,  not  a  theory' ;  and  that  condition 
is  an  absolute  refutation  of  his  theory.  ...  I  chal 
lenge  any  man  to  name  the  product  of  a  single  well- 
established  American  industry  that  cannot  be  bought 
cheaper  today  under  our  protective  system  than  dur 
ing  any  period  of  our  history  under  Free  Trade  or  a 
tariff  for  revenue  only.  .  .  . 

"It  is  an  astounding  fact  that  the  value  of  tHe 
200,O009OOO  acres  of  farm  lands  in  the  eleven  States 
composing  the  late  Confederacy  are  not  equal  to  the 
26,OOO,OOO  acres  of  farm  lands  in  the  States  of  New 
York  and  New  Jersey.  I  beg  to  assure  the  gentle 
men  of  the  South  that  I  have  drawn  this  contrast  in 
no  invidious  spirit,  but  only  in  confirmation  of  the 
fact  that  the  development  of  manufactures  tends  to 
enhance  the  value  of  agricultural  lands.  It  seems  to 
me,  however,  that  there  is  a  lesson  to  be  drawn  from 
this  of  inestimable  value  to  you.  The  South  needs 
this  development.  Protection  has  brought  it  to  the 
North, — it  will  bring  it  to  you.  You  have  but  to 
accept  it  and  it  will  bring  to  you  an  era  of  unexampled 
prosperity.  It  will  open  and  develop  your  mines, 
explore  your  forests,  light  the  fires  of  your  furnaces, 
build  your  factories,  construct  your  railways,  invite 
capital  to  investment,  give  employment  to  your  labor, 
plant  cities  in  your  waste  places,  and  lead  your  people 


i888]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      261 

into  the  highway  of  industrial  progress.  You  have 
already  entered  thereon.  During  the  last  ninety 
days  $36,000,000  of  capital  have  gone  into  your 
manufacturing  industries.  In  this  I  rejoice.  There 
is  not  an  industry  in  the  South,  the  development  of 
which  would  redound  to  her  glory,  that  I  would  not  as 
jealously  guard  as  though  it  were  the  industry  of 
Michigan.  I  believe  in  Protection  not  for  my  State 
alone  but  for  my  country.  I  believe  in  American  in 
dustries,  American  capital,  American  labor,  against 
the  whole  world.  .  .  . 

"Let  me  warn  you,  gentlemen  of  the  South,  that 
this  measure  bodes  no  good  to  you.  It  will  arrest 
the  investment  of  capital  in  your  midst  and  bring  your 
industries  to  a  stand-still.  There  is  no  portion  of 
our  country  where  this  measure  should  meet  with  a 
more  united  and  determined  opposition  than  in  the 
South.  Untoward  circumstances  have  heretofore  re 
tarded  her  material  progress,  but  the  way  is  now  open 
for  her  to  march  unimpeded  to  a  splendid  industrial 
future.  The  advance  is  already  sounded.  He  who 
does  not  respond  to  its  inspiring  summons  will  soon 
find  himself  without  a  Party  and  without  a  following. 
I  rejoice  that  there  is  a  new  South,  a  new  industrial 
South,  born  of  the  throes  of  war,  but  full  of  hope  and 
full  of  courage.  She  stands  today  with  uplifted 
brow  facing  the  dawn  of  a  mighty  future.  Her  loins 


262  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1885 

are  girt  for  a  new  race.  With  unfettered  hands  she 
smites  the  earth,  and  fountains  of  unmeasured  wealth 
gush  forth.  Beneath  her  feet  she  feels  the  stir  of  a 
marvelous  life.  Her  pathway  is  already  illumined 
with  the  light  of  blazing  furnaces.  Her  heavens  are 
aglow  with  the  break  of  a  new  day.  All  hail  its  on 
coming!  .  .  .  And  when  the  sun  shall  reach  the 
zenith  of  that  glorious  day,  the  North  and  the  South, 
cemented  in  the  indissoluble  bonds  of  commercial  and 
fraternal  unity,  will  stand  together  under  the  banner 
of  protection  to  American  industries  and  American 
labor,  and  march  to  grander  industrial  triumphs." 

After  reading  the  foregoing  extracts  from  Bur 
rows'  speech  against  the  Mills  Bill  in  the  House  it  is 
of  interest  to  turn  to  his  use  of  the  same  material  in 
campaign  work,  and  to  note  how  the  finished,  forensic 
style  changes  to  suit  the  audience  he  sees  before  him. 
This  extract  is  from  an  address  delivered  during  the 
Harrison  campaign: 

"They  only  changed  that  Bill  seventy-five  times 
after  they  got  it  into  the  House,  by  actual  count. 
When  they  got  it  in  there  somebody  said,  'Why,  Mr. 
Mills,  you  must  not  put  marble  on  the  free  list. 
There  is  Tennessee,  a  great  marble  producing  coun 
try,  and  I  will  lose  my  district.'  So  they  put  it  back. 
They  started  out  to  make  this  Bill  a  tariff  for  revenue 
only,  and  they  ended  by  making  it  a  tariff  for  Con- 


i888]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      263 

gressmen  only.  They  put  wood  screws  on  the  free 
list,  and  all  Connecticut  was  in  a  turmoil.  Why, 
that  would  make  it  go  Republican !  and  they  put  wood 
screws  back.  Why  such  philosophic  problems! 
That  is  the  way  to  solve  the  great  economical  ques 
tions,  to  find  out  who  can  be  elected  to  Congress. 
And  here  was  Lawler.  He  said,  'Why,  Mr.  Mills, 
you  put  glue  on  the  free  list.'  And  Mr.  Mills  says, 
'Isn't  that  raw  material?  Don't  we  want  glue  in  the 
manufacture  of  furniture,  and  don't  we  want  glue 
free?'  And  Lawler  says,  'Maybe  that  is  so;  but  my 
stars!  glue  is  a  great  industry  in  my  district;  glue  is 
the  only  thing  that  holds  me  to  my  seat !'  Well,  glue 
went  right  back.  And  so  they  go  around,  fooling 
about,  to  see  whom  they  elect  to  Congress,  fixing  a 
Bill  simply  to  secure  the  next  House  of  Representa 
tives." 


rri 

•*• 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  MCKINLEY  BILL.     1890 

McKinley  Bill,  while  outrageously  misunder- 
stood  and  misrepresented  for  campaign  pur 
poses  during  the  first  six  months  of  its  existence, 
proved  to  be  the  most  thorough  and  consistent  re 
vision  of  the  tariff  from  a  protective  point  of  view 
that  had  ever  been  made.  In  brief,  the  new  Act 
admitted  free  whatever  did  not  compete  with  home 
products,  and  placed  heavy  duties  upon  whatever  did 
compete,  exactly  carrying  out  the  principles  advo 
cated  by  Burrows  in  the  speeches  already  quoted. 
In  addition  to  this,  the  Bill  included  an  entirely  new 
phase  by  adding,  at  Elaine's  insistence,  the  principle 
of  Reciprocity,  which  gave  the  President  power  to  lay 
duties  upon  certain  of  the  free  goods  in  case  their 
country  of  origin  seemed  to  tax  our  exports  unduly. 
In  contrast  to  the  "star  chamber"  proceedings  which 
surrounded  the  framing  of  the  Mills  Bill,  the  Com 
mittee  on  Ways  and  Means  offered  to  every  interest 
the  fullest  opportunity  to  present  facts,  and  every 
effort  was  made  to  construct  a  Bill  which  should  be 
consistent  and  best  serve  the  greatest  number  of  con 

flicting  interests. 

264 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      265 

Burrows  was  once  described  by  Henry  Loomis  Nel 
son  as  one  who  "could  deftly  defend  his  leader  after 
he  had  mastered  his  brief."  As  far  as  the  McKinley 
Bill  was  concerned,  his  speech  in  its  defense  could 
come  only  from  one  who  was  defending  a  brief  which 
he  himself  had  been  largely  instrumental  in  creat 
ing.1  The  speech  itself  is  considered  by  many  to  be 
the  best  presentation  of  Tariff  philosophy  ever  given 
before  Congress;  the  following  description  of  its  re 
ception  by  one  who  was  present  at  the  time  evidences 
the  effect  produced  by  its  delivery: 

"The  writer  remembers  with  what  pleasure  and 
delight  he  listened  to  Mr.  Burrows'  speech  upon  the 
McKinley  Bill  when  it  was  before  the  House.  It 
had  been  announced  that  he  would  speak,  and  the 
galleries  were  crowded.  Is  seemed  as  though  every 
member  of  the  House  was  in  his  seat,  and  many  Sena 
tors  honored  the  speaker  with  their  presence.  The 
door-ways  and  aisles  were  crowded  with  clerks  and 
attaches  of  the  House.  Every  newspaper  reporter  in 
Washington  was  present,  busily  writing  and  sending 
reports  to  the  metropolitan  press.  Even  the  diplo 
matic  gallery  was  filled  with  foreign  ministers  and 
their  families,  who  listened  with  unfeigned  pleasure 
to  the  eloquence  of  one  of  America's  greatest  orators. 
Every  available  space  in  the  vast  hall  was  crowded  to 

i  See  McKinley's  acknowledgment,  ante,  page  235. 


266  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1890 

suffocation,  and  yet  the  immense  crowd  was  as  quiet 
as  a  church.  Mr.  Burrows  was  in  his  best  and  hap 
piest  mood.  His  melodious  voice  penetrated  each 
nook  and  corner  without  apparent  effort.  Every  one 
in  the  vast  assembly  seemed  entranced,  and  for  nearly 
two  hours  he  held  them  spellbound  with  his  oratory. 
It  was  a  treat  of  a  lifetime,  and  was  a  proud  moment 
for  men  of  Michigan  who  felt  the  spell  of  the  occasion, 
and  could  say  that  they  were  from  the  State  which 
claimed  Burrows  for  a  favorite  son.  As  the  crowd 
filed  out  and  dispersed,  one  distinguished  Senator  was 
heard  to  remark  to  another:  'Burrows  has  this  day 
fired  a  shot  that  will  be  heard  around  the  world.' 
He  said  only  what  all  thought  but  none  so  well  ex 
pressed." 

The  following  extracts  from  this  speech  not  only 
give  the  reader  the  clearest  possible  idea  of  Tariff 
legislation,  but  exhibit  the  consummate  mastery  of 
the  subject  which  its  author  possessed: 

"If  there  is  any  article  on  the  free-list  in  this  Bill 
the  like  of  which,  by  fair  and  adequate  protection, 
could  be  produced  in  this  country  in  sufficient  quan 
tities  to  meet  the  home  demand,  it  is  an  oversight  on 
the  part  of  the  majority  of  the  Committee,  and,  if  it 
can  be  pointed  out,  we  will  move  that  it  be  transferred 
to  the  dutiable  list  and  given  such  protection  as  will 
insure  its  production  in  this  country. 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      267 

"If  there  is  a  single  article  on  the  dutiable  list 
where  the  duty  is  so  low  as  to  expose  the  like  domestic 
industry  to  a  ruinous  foreign  competition  and  thus 
endangers  its  permanency,  it  has  but  to  be  indicated 
to  secure  such  measure  of  protection  as  will  insure 
its  safety. 

"If  the  proposed  rate  of  duty  on  any  article  on  the 
dutiable  list  is  in  excess  of  what  is  required  to  give 
fair  and  adequate  protection  to  the  competing  domes 
tic  industry,  none  will  be  more  ready  than  the  major 
ity  of  your  Committee  to  reduce  the  rate  to  the  level 
of  such  requirement. 

"Upon  this  theory  the  Bill  is  constructed,  and  we 
present  it  to  the  House  and  the  country  not  with  the 
assurance  that  it  is  perfect  in  all  its  details,  but  with 
confidence  that  its  general  framework  is  in  harmony 
with  the  spirit  and  policy  of  the  Republican  Party. 
It  is  intended  to  be  a  measure  of  Protection  from  its 
enacting  clause  to  its  closing  paragraph.  If  there  is 
a  single  provision  in  it  which  in  its  practical  working 
will  inure  to  the  benefit  of  any  foreign  industry  to  the 
detriment  of  our  own,  I  say  frankly  that  such  pro 
vision  is  there  by  inadvertence,  and  not  by  intention. 
If  there  is  a  section  in  this  Bill  which  will  bring  dis 
aster  to  any  American  industry  or  paralyze  the  arm 
of  a  single  laboring-man  in  the  United  States,  such 
section  is  there  by  accident,  and  not  by  design. 


268  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1890 

"The  entire  Bill  is  framed  expressly  with  a  view  of 
admitting  free  of  duty  all  articles  the  like  of  which 
are  not  and  cannot  be  produced  in  this  country,  and 
imposing  duties  on  the  articles  we  do  produce,  with 
the  double  purpose  of  securing  sufficient  revenue  for 
the  support  of  the  Government,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  fostering  and  diversifying  American  industries, 
giving  investment  to  American  capital,  and  employ 
ment  to  American  labor. 

"But  nothing  can  more  forcibly  illustrate  the  two 
theories  thus  outlined  than  a  comparison  of  some  of 
the  provisions  of  the  measure  we  propose  with  those 
of  the  Mills  Bill,  so  called,  which  is  the  accepted  em 
bodiment  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Democratic  Party  on 
the  Tariff  question. 

"The  two  measures  fully  illustrate  the  two  conflict 
ing,  irreconcilable  theories.  I  will  take  as  an  illus 
tration  the  article  of  tin-plate.  The  present  duty  is 
one  cent  a  pound.  The  Mills  Bill  proposed  to  re 
move  that  duty  and  place  tin-plate  on  the  free-list. 
We  propose,  on  the  contrary,  not  only  not  to  make  it 
free,  but  to  increase  the  duty  to  at  least  two  cents  a 
pound,  with  a  view  of  establishing  the  industry  in  the 
United  States. 

"It  is  conceded  that  we  are  not  producing  a  pound 
of  tin-plate  in  the  United  States,  and  the  Democratic 
Party  would  so  legislate  as  to  make  its  production 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      269 

here  an  impossibility  for  all  time  to  come,  and  thus 
not  only  continue  our  dependence  on  a  foreign  country 
for  a  supply  of  this  article  of  prime  necessity,  but 
make  our  thralldom  complete  and  perpetual.  We 
propose,  on  the  contrary,  by  a  guaranty  of  ample  pro 
tection,  to  invite  American  capital  to  enter  a  new  field 
of  investment  and  lay  the  foundations  for  the  produc 
tion  of  our  own  tin-plate;  and  instead  of  importing 
this  product  we  would  imp'ort  and  establish  the  indus 
try  itself,  and  so  not  only  furnish  increased  employ 
ment  for  American  labor,  keep  the  millions  at  home 
now  annually  spent  abroad,  but  ultimately  reduce  the 
price  to  the  American  consumer  of  every  pound  of 
tin-plate  entering  into  our  consumption,  both  foreign 
and  domestic." 

"But  the  opponents  of  this  measure  criticise  us  not 
only  for  protecting  the  articles  they  would  admit 
free  of  duty,  but  because  we  do  not  propose  a  general 
reduction  of  duties  all  along  the  line  to  what  they 

i  As  a  matter  of  record,  and  as  evidence  of  the  far-sighted  impor 
tance  of  establishing  the  new  industry  of  making  tin-plate,  we  have 
but  to  quote  from  Burrows'  speech  against  the  Wilson  Bill  made  four 
years  later:  "Nowhere  in  the  field  of  our  industrial  achievements 
was  the  triumph  of  our  protective  system  more  completely  vindicated 
than  in  the  creation  of  the  American  tin-plate  industry.  It  is  as 
astounding  as  it  is  gratifying.  On  the  first  day  of  July,  1891,  there 
was  practically  no  manufacture  of  tin-plate  in  the  United  States.  .  .  . 
For  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1893,  an  aggregate  manufacture 
of  tin  and  terne  plates  in  the  United  States  of  108,621,883  pounds. 
Yet  in  the  report  of  the  Committee  this  great  and  growing  industry  is 
characterized  as  a  'bogus  industry'!" 


270  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1890 

may  be  pleased  to  regard  a  revenue  basis.  They 
seem  to  be  laboring  under  the  delusion  that  in  order 
to  reduce  the  revenues  it  is  only  necessary  to  lower 
the  rate  of  duty  on  imports.  Nothing  could  be  more 
fallacious.  It  is  a  most  delicate  matter  so  to  adjust 
the  duty  on  imports  as  to  secure  equitable  results  to 
all.  Some  one  has  said  that  'our  tariff  system  is  like 
a  spider's  web;  touch  a  single  thread  of  it  and  the 
whole  fabric  trembles.9  Our  industries  are  so  inter 
woven  and  interdependent  that  a  modification  of  the 
rates  in  a  single  particular  would  be  felt  throughout 
the  entire  system.  It  is  a  difficult  matter  so  to  adjust 
duties  as  to  secure  revenue  and  at  the  same  time  ade 
quately  protect  the  domestic  industry.  If  the  duty 
is  too  high,  it  is  prohibition,  with  no  revenue  to  the 
Government  and  danger  of  monopoly  at  home.  If 
the  duty  is  too  low,  importations  will  flow  in  in  such 
abundance  as  not  only  to  increase  the  .revenue  but  to 
endanger  and  ultimately  destroy  the  domestic  indus 
try.  .  .  . 

"That  we  have  increased  rates  in  some  instances 
is  true.  Whenever  we  have  found  an  established 
American  industry  suffering  from  foreign  competi 
tion  to  such  an  extent  as  to  endanger  its  permanency 
and  threaten  its  destruction,  we  have  not  hesitated  to 
give  it  such  additional  protection  as  will  insure  its 
maintenance  and  prosperity.  In  this  connection  I 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      271 

am  frank  to  say  that  in  making  these  increases  we 
have  not  been  actuated  so  much  by  a  desire  to  avoid 
large  percentages  as  by  that  higher  consideration,  the 
necessities  of  American  industries  and  American 
labor.  When,  therefore,  we  have  found  a  domestic 
manufacturer  being  driven  from  his  own  market  by 
a  remorseless  foreign  competition,  we  have  not  hesi 
tated  to  interpose  just  such  Governmental  protection 
as  will  insure  to  the  American  producer  an  equal 
chance,  at  least,  in  his  own  market.  .  .  . 

"But  suppose  the  duty  does  in  some  instances  in 
crease  the  price  of  the  article  to  the  consumer,  shall 
we  therefore  abandon  the  policy  of  Protection,  throw 
down  every  barrier,  and  invite  foreign  manufacturers 
to  take  possession  of  our  market  because,  forsooth,  it 
will  bring  to  our  people  cheaper  products?  Is  it  a 
mere  question  of  cheapness?  Cheap  clothing,  cheap 
wages,  cheap  food,  cheap  houses,  cheap  men.  Are 
there  no  higher  considerations?  Into  this  race  for 
cheapness  the  Republican  Party  does  not  propose  to 
enter.  .  .  . 

"It  has  been  said  and  will  be  repeated  that  the  pro 
tective  system  tends  to  produce  unnatural  conditions, 
overproduction,  and  consequent  trusts  and  combines, 
to  the  destruction  of  healthy  competition  and  the 
detriment  of  the  people.  Suppose  that  to  be  true,  is 
that  any  reason  why  the  system  itself  should  be  aban- 


272  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1890 

doned?  There  are  numerous  evils  growing  out  of  a 
free  government,  but  is  that  any  reason  why  such  a 
government  should  be  demolished  and  a  despotism 
erected  on  its  ruins?  Statesmanship  dictates,  rather, 
correction  of  these  evils  while  maintaining  the  gov 
ernment.  We  have  already  passed  a  measure 1 
aimed  at  these  trusts  and  combines  which,  it  is  hoped, 
will  uproot  and  destroy  the  last  vestige  of  their  tyran 
nical  power. 

"I  have  no  apology  to  offer  for  the  men  who  seek  to 
deprive  the  people  of  the  benefit  of  fair  prices  which 
unrestrained  domestic  competition  insures.  When 
an  industry  in  the  United  States  has  been  built  up 
under  the  fostering  care  of  the  Government,  and  then 
the  beneficiaries  thereof,  feeling  the  effect  of  domestic 
competition,  combine  to  prevent  the  resultant  bene 
fits  to  the  people,  I  would  say  to  all  such,  if  you  will 
not  permit  free  and  unrestrained  competition  at  home, 
you  shall  encounter  the  competition  of  the  world. 
It  would  be  well,  however,  to  remember  in  this  con 
nection  that  trusts  are  not  confined  to  protected  coun 
tries  or  to  protected  industries.  .  .  . 

"We  have  sought  in  this  measure  to  reduce  the 
surplus  revenues  to  the  basis  of  Governmental  needs 
without  impairing  a  single  American  industry  or  de 
priving  a  single  laboring  man  of  the  products  of  his 

i  The  Sherman  Anti-Trust  Act,  enacted  July  2,  1890. 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      273 

toil.  We  submit  this  measure  to  the  considerate 
judgment  of  the  House  and  the  country  in  the  con 
fident  belief  that,  if  enacted  into  law,  it  will  impart  a 
fresh  stimulus  to  all  our  industries,  relieve  whatever 
of  depression  there  may  now  exist,  and  bring  to  all 
the  people  a  new  era  of  increased  prosperity." 

The  McKinley  Bill  was  passed  and  became  effective 
on  October  6,  1890,  only  a  month  before  the  Congres 
sional  elections.  The  Democrats  saw  their  oppor 
tunity  to  score  a  point  with  the  public  by  misrepre 
senting  the  features  of  the  new  Act,  and  so  successful 
were  they  in  their  work,  and  so  complete  was  the  con 
fusion  in  the  popular  mind,  that  a  revulsion  passed 
over  the  country,  sweeping  a  Democratic  majority 
into  both  House  and  Senate.  Two  years  later  Cleve 
land  was  returned  to  the  White  House. 

Looking  backwards,  it  seems  preposterous  that  tlie 
tactics  adopted  by  the  Democrats  should  have  been  so 
successful  and  so  far-reaching.  The  reader  will 
probably  remember  having  seen  posted  prominently 
in  the  store  windows,  during  the  second  Harrison- 
Cleveland  campaign,  parallel  lines  of  figures  showing 
the  prices  of  selected  articles  before  and  after  the 
McKinley  Tariff  went  into  effect,  but  neither  the 
reader  nor  the  other  thousands  who  also  saw  these 
placards  realized  that  these  exhibits  were  carefully 
prepared  for  a  definite  purpose;  that  the  prices  on 


274  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1890 

certain  articles  were  deliberately  raised  to  a  fictitious 
point  in  order  to  produce  an  effect,  later  to  be  re 
duced  when  this  effect  has  been  accomplished;  that 
some  of  the  articles  named  on  these  lists  were  not 
even  indirectly  affected  by  the  McKinley  Bill;  that 
hundreds  of  pedlers  were  sent  throughout  the  rural 
districts  offering  for  sale,  but  with  no  expectation  of 
selling  them,  five-cent  tin  cups  priced  at  twenty-five 
cents;  twenty-five  cent  tin  pails  priced  at  $l.OO,  ex 
plaining  to  the  horrified  farmers'  wives  that  these 
prices  were  necessitated  by  the  Tariff  Bill  foisted  upon 
the  country  by  the  unscrupulous  Republican  Party! 
In  one  of  his  later  campaign  speeches  Burrows  re 
marks  on  this  point: 

"In  the  history  of  all  political  Parties  in  this  coun 
try  there  was  never  such  a  persistent  misrepresenta 
tion  as  was  made  during  those  thirty  days.  I  spoke 
with  a  gentleman  from  Massachusetts  recently  who 
told  me  that  a  Free-Trader  hired  a  man  with  a  wagon 
of  fish,  and  bought  him  a  horn,  and  told  him  to  take 
that  wagon-load  of  fish  and  carry  them  through  the 
country  until  they  spoiled.  He  did  not  care  whether 
he  sold  any  or  not,  so  he  asked  twenty  cents  a  pound 
for  them.  He  was  to  go  to  every  farmer  in  the  coun 
try  and  ask  him  if  he  did  not  want  some  fish.  When 
the  old  farmer's  wife  came  out,  anxious  for  the  fish 
for  dinner,  she  was  told  that  fish  had  gone  up  to 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      275 

twenty  cents  a  pound,  all  because  of  the  McKinley 
Bill;  and  the  old  lady  returned  to  the  house  and  blew 
the  horn,  and,  as  her  husband  came  up,  she  made  him 
swear  that  he  would  vote  against  the  McKinley  Bill 
on  account  of  those  fish." 

When  the  McKinley  Bill  was  completed  in  com 
mittee  McKinley  claimed  for  the  majority  that  it 
would  reduce  the  customs  duties  about  sixty-one  mil 
lion  dollars,  while  Roger  Q.  Mills  for  the  minority 
members  claimed  that  it  would  increase  the  duties 
about  four  million  dollars.  If  there  was  this  differ 
ence  of  opinion  in  the  minds  of  the  majority  and 
minority  members  of  the  same  Committee,  working 
with  the  same  data  before  them,  it  is  perhaps  not  to 
be  wondered  at  that  the  people  themselves  should  be 
so  completely  befuddled.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
decrease  shown  by  the  first  year  of  operation  was 
about  fifty-two  million  dollars,  which,  in  itself,  is  a 
verdict  in  favor  of  the  intelligent  foresight  on  the 
part  of  the  majority  members. 

McKinley  himself,  defeated  for  reelection  to  Con 
gress  by  the  landslide  caused  by  the  Bill,  said:  "In 
creased  prosperity  which  is  sure  to  come  will  outrun 
the  maligner  and  villifier.  Reason  will  be  enthroned, 
and  none  will  suffer  so  much  as  those  who  have  par 
ticipated  in  misguiding  a  trusting  people." 

lOlcott:  "The  Life  of  William  McKinley,"  volume  I,  page  188. 


276  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1890 

When  a  nail  is  driven  into  a  post  the  hole  remains 
even  after  the  nail  is  withdrawn.  The  fact  that  the 
McKinley  Tariff  was  proving  successful  could  not  be 
grasped  by  the  voters,  even  though  fully  appreciated 
by  economists  and  students  of  the  subject.  With  the 
return  of  the  Democratic  Party  to  power,  business, 
from  perfectly  natural  economic  causes,  suffered  a 
serious  depression,  which  the  Democrats  used  as  fur 
ther  evidence  of  the  disastrous  effects  of  the  McKin 
ley  Bill.  Burrows'  retort  to  this  accusation,  made  in 
the  course  of  his  remarks  upon  the  Wilson  Bill  which 
is  to  be  considered  later,  is  characteristically  apt: 

"This  general  paralysis  of  business  throughout  the 
country,"  he  said,  "comes  solely  from  the  ascendency 
of  a  political  Party  pledged  to  the  repeal  of  the  Act 
of  1890,  and  the  substitution  therefor  of  a  tariff 
divested  of  all  protective  features.  With  such  a 
Party  in  full  control  of  the  Government  is  it  any 
wonder  that  domestic  manufacturers  suspend  opera 
tions  until  advised  of  the  conditions  under  which  they 
must  market  their  output?  Business  prudence  dic 
tated  the  suspension  of  the  manufacture  of  domestic 
fabrics  with  high-priced  labor  until  the  conditions 
should  be  determined  upon  which  the  foreign  com 
peting  products  should  be  permitted  to  enter  our  mar 
kets.  Importers  naturally  limited  their  orders  to  the 
strict  necessities  of  trade  in  anticipation  of  more 


1890]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      277 

favorable  conditions.  And  so  manufacturer  and  im 
porter  alike  prudently  suspended  business  until  the 
Democratic  Party  should  fix  the  terms  upon  which 
they  would  be  permitted  to  resume.  When  the  judge 
pronounces  the  sentence  of  death  on  the  convicted 
felon  there  is  no  change  in  the  law,  but  the  victim 
is  apt  to  lose  interest  in  human  affairs.  On  an  ocean 
voyage  the  chart  and  compass  may  remain  undis 
turbed,  but  with  a  madman  at  the  wheel  and  a  lunatic 
on  the  bridge  the  interest  of  the  passengers  will  be 
chiefly  centered  in  the  supply  of  life  preservers." 

In  a  letter  dated  October  l,  1893,  ex-President 
Harrison  wrote  to  Burrows,  giving  his  viewpoint  on 
the  situation  at  a  time  when  he  could  look  back  upon 
it  freed  from  personal  concern: 

From  ex-President  Harrison 

INDIANAPOLIS,  INDIANA 

MY  DEAR  BURROWS: 

You  know  from  conversations  I  have  had  with  you 
that  my  purpose  was  in  that  last  message  to  put  a 
mark  on  the  stone  by  which  the  receding  of  our  pros 
perity,  which  was  inevitable,  might  be  seen  and  meas 
ured.  I  can  understand  how  a  man  may  hold  to  the 
views  of  the  Free-Trader  or  Tariff  Reformer  and  yet 
be  mentally  sound  and  morally  sincere;  but  I  cannot 
understand  how  any  man  not  a  subject  for  guardian- 


278  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1890 

ship  can  think  that  a  country  can  pass  from  the  Mc- 
Kinley  Bill  to  the  Chicago  platform  without  disastrous 
convulsions,  or  that  when  the  rough  passage  has  been 
made  it  will  not  leave  the  laboring  men  with  a  lower 
scale  of  wages.  My  own  impression  of  these  people 
is  that  the  intelligent  among  them  did  see  these  re 
sults,  and  not  a  few  of  them  contemplated  them  with 
favor.  I  tried  to  point  out  in  my  letter  of  acceptance 
that  so  far  as  the  election  was  a  choice  between  men 
it  was  of  minor  importance,  but  that  the  choice  be 
tween  policies  involved  stupendous  results.  The 
conservative  Democrats,  business  men,  bankers,  etc., 
of  the  East  did  not  see  the  distinction.  They  saw  in 
Mr.  Cleveland  a  conservative  man,  and  forgot  to  take 
account  of  a  Democratic  Congress.  Their  mistake, 
I  think,  must  be  apparent  to  them  now. 

But  I  did  not  intend  to  lead  into  a  discussion  of 
public  affairs;  however,  of  course  I  continue  to  feel 
a  strong  but  quiet  interest  in  everything.  I  am 
spending  my  days  in  my  library  preparing  my  lec 
tures  for  Stanford  University,  and  giving  needed  at 
tention  to  a  few  important  legal  matters  that  I  have 
become  connected  with. 

|Witri  the  very  kindest  personal  regards,  I  am 
Sincerely  your  friend, 

BENJAMIN  HARRISON 


CHAPTER  X 
RECIPROCITY.     1 889- 1 902 

WHEN  the  principle  of  Reciprocity  was  written 
into  the  McKinley  Bill  a  new  phase  of  Re 
publican  legislation  began,  and  over  this  the  struggle 
was  long  and  exciting.  James  G.  Elaine  of  Maine 
may  properly  be  called  the  Father  of  Reciprocity. 
While  Secretary  of  State  in  the  Garfield  Administra 
tion  he  proposed  a  Pan-American  Congress,  but  the 
idea  did  not  take  concrete  form  until  the  last  year  of 
Cleveland's  Administration.  When  the  Congress 
finally  convened,  Elaine  by  a  curious  coincidence  was 
again  Secretary  of  State,  this  time  in  the  Harrison 
Cabinet,  and  was  ready  to  give  to  it  a  hearty  welcome. 
Representatives  of  nineteen  independent  nations  of 
the  Western  Hemisphere  met  in  Washington  in  Octo 
ber,  1889,  to  consider  such  points  as  the  method  of 
communication  between  South  and  North  American 
ports;  the  establishment  of  a  uniform  system  of 
weights  and  measures;  the  possible  adoption  of  a 
common  silver  coin ;  and  a  plan  to  arbitrate  disputed 
questions  which  might  at  any  time  arise  between  the 
nations  represented  at  the  conference.  Elaine  him- 


279 


280  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1889 

self  was  strongly  in  favor  of  the  principle  of  extend 
ing  trade  through  reciprocal  arrangements,  and  he 
might  perhaps  have  persuaded  the  Lower  House  to 
incorporate  this  principle  into  the  McKinley  Bill  ex 
cept  for  the  fact  that  South  America  was  so  strongly 
an  agricultural  country  that  high  Protectionists 
feared  freedom  of  trade  might  make  it  a  dangerous 
competitor  of  the  North  American  Western  farmer. 
The  idea  of  Reciprocity  was  furthermore  viewed  with 
suspicion,  fearing  lest  commercial  freedom  should 
finally  result  in  admitting  free  of  duty,  or  at  low 
rates,  the  wools,  hides,  lead  and  copper  ores  of  Cen 
tral  and  South  America. 

Undismayed  by  the  hostile  attitude  shown  towards 
his  pet  project  on  the  part  of  the  Lower  House,  Elaine 
carried  the  fight  on  to  the  Senate.  His  plan  was  that 
the  United  States  should  retain  certain  duties  until 
the  exporting  countries  made  adequate  concessions. 
He  would  use  sugar  to  open  Cuban  and  other  South 
ern  markets  for  the  provisions  and  bread-stuffs  pro 
duced  by  American  farmers.  To  place  a  duty  on 
hides,  Elaine  contended,  was  "a  slap  in  the  face  to  the 
South  Americans.  .  .  .  Such  movements  as  these 
for  Protection  will  protect  the  Republican  Party  into 
a  speedy  retirement."  Senator  Aldrich  came  to 
Elaine's  aid,  and  by  slightly  modifying  his  proposi 
tion  succeeded  in  forcing  the  measure  into  the  Me- 


1902]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      281 

Kinley  Bill.  This  modification  authorized  the  Presi 
dent  to  impose  discriminating  duties  in  case  Reciproc 
ity  was  withheld,  instead  of  permitting  him  to  reduce 
duties  if  reciprocal  privileges  were  granted. 

Burrows  was  heartily  in  sympathy  with  Elaine's 
idea  of  Reciprocity,  and  soon  appeared  as  his  spokes 
man  throughout  the  country.  In  1892  the  following 
editorial  appeared  in  the  Detroit  Tribune : 

"A  special  despatch  from  Washington  to  the  New 
York  Press  says:  'Representative  Julius  Caesar  Bur 
rows  has  received  a  document  which  he  will  put  be 
hind  glass  and  hang  in  a  gold  frame.  It  is  nothing 
less  than  a  letter  from  James  G.  Elaine,  informing 
Mr.  Burrows  that  he  is  looked  upon  as  the  brightest 
star  in  the  galaxy  of  Reciprocity  advocates,  and  re 
questing  him  to  be  the  exponent  of  Mr.  Elaine  at  the 
coming  Reciprocity  Banquet  in  Boston.  Every  line 
of  the  letter  is  full  of  compliment  for  the  Michigan 
Representative,  so  that  he  is  naturally  proud  of  it, 
and  looks  upon  it  as  one  of  the  greatest  prizes  of  his 
political  life.9 

"Mr.  Burrows  may  well  be  proud  of  his  commission 
from  the  great  author  of  the  Reciprocity  policy  to 
appear  in  his  place  at  tonight's  banquet  in  honor  of 
the  successful  issue  of  that  policy.  It  is  superfluous 
to  add  that  the  compliment  to  Michigan's  ablest  Con 
gressman  is  well  deserved  and  excellently  placed. 


282  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [U 

Mr.  Elaine  could  not  have  selected  a  better  represent 
ative,  nor  one  more  fully  alive  to  the  merits  of  his 
scheme  of  trade  expansion.  At  Mr.  Burrows'  hands 
the  topic  of  Reciprocity  will  receive  thorough  and 
appreciative  consideration.  In  the  presentation  of 
this  subject  Mr.  Burrows  will  have  the  immense  tacti 
cal  advantage  not  only  of  appearing  in  behalf  of  Mr. 
Elaine,  but  of  appearing  as  the  exponent  of  a  policy 
of  unqualified  success  and  unquestioned  utility.  No 
administrative  policy  of  recent  date  has  better  justi 
fied  itself  or  more  rapidly  won  popular  favor  than 
Mr.  Elaine's  scheme  of  trade  extension  through  recip 
rocal  treaties.  Something  over  a  year  and  a  half  has 
elapsed  since  Mr.  Elaine  forced  upon  the  attention 
of  the  Ways  and  Means  Committee  of  the  House  the 
Reciprocity  idea,  which  was  some  months  later  incor 
porated  into  the  McKinley  Tariff  Law.  Less  than  a 
year  has  gone  by  since  the  conclusion  of  the  first 
Reciprocity  Treaty,  that  with  Brazil,  which  is  dated 
February  5,  1891.  Following  the  completion  of  the 
Brazilian  convention,  came  in  quick  succession  the 
announcement  of  treaties  with  Spain,  Germany,  San 
Domingo,  the  British  West  Indies,  Guatemala,  Costa 
Rica,  and  Salvador.  Negotiations  are  now  pending 
with  Columbia  and  Mexico,  and  Nicaragua  and  Vene 
zuela  will  probably  not  long  remain  outside  the  Amer 
ican  zollverein, 


1Q02]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      283 

"So  much  with  respect  to  the  carrying  into  effect 
of  the  policy  which  has  given  the  lie  to  every  predic 
tion  of  its  enemies.  But,  they  say,  the  true  test  of  its 
success  should  be  its  efficacy  in  the  promotion  of  trade. 
This  is  admitted;  but  many  of  the  treaties  have  not 
yet  been  long  enough  in  force  to  permit  of  the  read 
justment  of  trade  relations  or  to  allow  our  merchants 
to  take  advantage  of  the  concessions  secured.  In 
Brazilian  and  Cuban  trade,  however,  a  notably  bene 
ficial  influence  has  been  felt,  demonstrable  statistic 
ally  by  trade  reports.  One  more  year  will  tell  an 
irrefutable  story  of  trade  expansion,  the  conclusive 
test  of  the  commercial  value  of  Reciprocity.  As  to 
its  popularity,  that  is  a  matter  of  common  observation. 
There  are  no  objectors  save  the  envious,  and  no  critics 
except  those  who  would  extend  Reciprocity  to  Free 
Trade. 

"Mr.  Burrows  will  thus  have  a  magnificent  record 
to  present  this  evening.  He  will  tell  of  a  substantial 
achievement  in  the  domain  of  statesmanship ;  he  will 
describe  a  tangible  something  that  has  been  done  for 
the  American  people.  The  distinction  of  the 
achievement  and  the  doing  is  Mr.  Elaine's,  and  it  con 
stitutes  his  chiefest  claim  upon  the  gratitude  of  his 
fellow-citizens." 

The  Annual  Banquet  of  the  Boston  Merchants  As 
sociation,  to  which  the  foregoing  editorial  refers,  was 


284  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [ii 

held  at  Hotel  Vendome  in  Boston,  January  7,  1892, 
and  the  speech  made  by  Burrows  on  that  occasion 
became  famous  the  country  over  because  of  his  bon 
mot,  "Protection  is  defense — Reciprocity  is  con 
quest."  In  the  course  of  his  remarks  he  said: 

"Among  the  powers  conferred  upon  the  National 
Government,  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  none  is  more  important  and  comprehensive 
than  that  which  authorizes  Congress  'to  regulate  com 
merce  with  foreign  nations.'  It  was  the  want  of  this 
power  under  the  Confederation,  more  than  anything 
else,  which  led  to  the  early  abandonment  of  that  form 
of  government  and  the  substitution  of  the  Federal 
Constitution.  It  was  Webster,  I  think,  who  said: 
'We  may  invoke  all  the  debates  in  all  the  State  con 
ventions,  and  the  expressions  of  all  the  greatest  men 
in  the  country,  and  we  shall  find  it  everywhere  held 
up  as  the  main  reason  for  the  adoption  of  the  Consti 
tution  that  it  would  give  to  the  general  Government 
power  to  regulate  commerce  and  trade.' 

"Some  conception  may  be  had  of  the  magnitude  of 
the  interests  thus  committed  to  the  exclusive  care  and 
regulation  of  the  National  Government,  when  the  fact 
is  recalled  that  the  value  of  the  foreign  commerce  of 
the  United  States  during  the  last  fiscal  year  reached 
the  unexampled  and  stupendous  sum  of  $1,729,397, 
OOO.  To  regulate  by  just  and  wholesome  laws  this 


1902]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      285 

vast  and  ever-swelling  volume  of  foreign  trade,  ex 
tending  to  every  commercial  nation  on  the  globe,  is  a 
task  commanding  the  highest  statesmanship  and  the 
most  accomplished  diplomacy. 

"The  character  and  scope  of  the  regulations  which 
the  National  Government  is  permitted  to  impose  are 
nowhere  specifically  defined  and  set  forth  in  the  Con 
stitution,  unless  it  be  in  that  provision  which  author 
izes  Congress  to  6lay  and  collect  duties'  on  imports. 
Under  this  power  the  whole  volume  of  our  import 
trade  may  be  substantially  regulated  and  controlled. 
It  was  by  invoking  this  power  under  the  Constitution 
that  the  first  regulation  of  our  foreign  commerce  was 
secured  under  National  authority. 

"The  first  Act  of  the  First  Congress  relating  to  and 
affecting  our  foreign  trade  was  passed  on  the  4th  day 
July,  1789,  and  consisted  in  imposing  a  specific 
charge  on  certain  designated  imports,  the  payment  of 
which  was  a  necessary  prerequisite  to  the  admission 
of  such  imports  into  the  United  States.  This  was  a 
regulation  of  commerce  with  foreign  nations.  .  .  . 
The  declared  purpose  of  this  Act  was  threefold. 
First,  'for  the  support  of  the  Government' ;  secondly, 
'for  the  discharge  of  the  debts  of  the  United  States,' 
and  thirdly,  'for  the  encouragement  and  protection  of 
manufactures.' 

"It  must  be  conceded  that  whenever  duties  are  im- 


286  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1889 

posed  on  imports  for  either  or  all  of  the  purposes 
named  it  is  a  regulation  of  commerce  more  or  less 
effective  according  to  the  purposes  for  which  these 
exactions  are  imposed,  and  I  may  say  that  these  regu 
lations  are  never  more  potent,  sweeping,  and  compre 
hensive  than  when  made  for  the  encouragement  and 
protection  of  manufactures. 

"This  method  of  regulating  trade  with  foreign  na 
tions  by  the  imposition  of  duties  on  imports  has  been 
pursued  from  the  beginning  of  the  Government  under 
all  Parties  and  all  Administrations,  and  will  be  con 
tinued  as  a  National  policy  so  long  as  the  Republic 
endures.  True,  rates  may  be  changed,  the  free  list 
enlarged  or  contracted,  as  the  public  exigency  may 
require  or  Party  expediency  demand;  yet  this  method 
of  regulating  foreign  commerce  will  never  be  wholly 
abandoned. 

"It  will  be  observed  that  this  method  of  regulating 
commerce  applies  directly  only  to  our  incoming  trade, 
and  in  no  degree,  unless  by  indirection,  does  it  affect 
our  outgoing  commerce.  The  Tariff  Act  of  1890  in 
voked  another  method  of  regulating  commerce  with 
foreign  nations,  looking  not  exclusively  to  our  import 
trade,  but  to  our  vast  and  increasing  outgoing  com 
merce.  It  is  an  easy  matter  to  regulate  and  control 
the  incoming  commerce,  but  it  is  quite  another  thing 
so  to  legislate  as  to  open  foreign  markets  for  the  sur- 


1902]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      287 

plus  products  of  our  farms  and  factories.  The  pro 
ductive  power  of  this  country  is  the  marvel  of  nations. 
By  the  census  of  1880  it  was  disclosed  that  the  value 
of  our  output  in  a  single  year  from  agriculture,  manu 
factures,  mines,  forests,  and  fisheries  aggregated  the 
fabulous  sum  of  $2O,OOO,OOO,OOO.  What  it  is  to 
day  as  disclosed  by  the  census  of  1890  I  am  not  able 
to  state,  but  that  it  is  greatly  augmented  cannot  be 
questioned. 

"Great  as  is  the  capacity  of  our  domestic  market, 
which  should  ever  be  regarded  of  the  first  importance 
in  our  National  economy,  yet,  when  we  have  supplied 
ourselves,  we  have  still  a  surplus  which  must  find  sale 
in  the  markets  of  foreign  countries.  To  reach  these 
markets  with  such  surplus,  with  the  advantages  in 
our  favor  as  against  competing  nations,  is  the  great 
problem  of  modern  statesmanship.  The  Tariff  Act 
of  1890  seeks  to  accomplish  this  great  end,  and  the 
hour  is  ripe  for  its  consummation.  The  great  re 
publics  south  of  us,  with  their  50,000,000  of  people, 
have  met  us  in  friendly  council,  and  I  am  sure  there 
has  been  cemented  between  us  and  them  a  bond  of 
enduring  friendship  which  will  inure  to  the  commer 
cial  advantages  of  all  alike.  If  we  avail  ourselves  of 
the  opportunity  now  afforded,  the  statistician  of  the 
future  will  never  again  record  the  humiliating  fact 
that  ...  we  purchased  of  these  countries  $2.19 


288  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [i! 

worth  for  every  dollar  they  took  from  us.  Reciproc 
ity  seeks  to  cure  this  inequality  of  trade.  .  .  . 

"This  regulation  of  commerce  has  had  an  auspi 
cious  beginning.  Already  reciprocal  treaties  have 
been  consummated  with  five  nations  and  nine  colo 
nies,  while  at  this  hour  we  are  negotiating  agreements 
of  reciprocity  with  six  other  nations.  I  have  heard  it 
urged  in  some  quarters,  with  more  vehemence  than 
knowledge,  that  this  doctrine  of  Reciprocity,  as  de 
clared  and  applied,  was  an  abandonment  of  the  policy 
of  Protection,  and  an  acceptance  of  the  tenets  of  Free 
Trade.  Nothing  could  be  more  preposterous. 
There  is  not  the  remotest  suggestion  of  Free  Trade 
in  it.  It  is  fair  trade,  not  Free  Trade.  We  admit 
free  of  duty  into  the  American  market  the  things  we 
do  not,  or  cannot  produce  .  .  .  and,  in  return  there 
for,  secure  reciprocal  advantages  in  the  markets  of 
the  countries  supplying  these  articles.  Reciprocity 
strikes  down  no  American  industry,  cripples  no  Amer 
ican  enterprise. 

"Reciprocity  antagonistic  to  Protection!  Protec 
tion  guards  the  home  market;  Reciprocity  reaches  out 
to  the  foreign  markets.  Protection  establishes, 
builds  up,  and  maintains  American  industries;  Reci 
procity  opens  a  new  outlet  for  the  surplus  products  of 
our  farms  and  factories.  Protection  gives  employ 
ment  to  American  labor;  Reciprocity  enlarges  the 


1902]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      289 

demand  for  the  fruits  of  that  labor,  thereby  insuring 
uninterrupted  and  enlarged  employment.  In  a 
word,  Protection  is  defense — Reciprocity  is  conquest. 

"There  is,  therefore,  no  abandonment  of  the  doc 
trine  of  Protection,  but  rather  an  increased  demand 
for  its  maintenance.  Under  the  policy  of  Protection 
and  Reciprocity,  coupled  with  that  other  policy,  now 
happily  inaugurated,  of  building  up  our  merchant 
marine,  and  establishing  swift  and  certain  mail  com 
munications  with  the  South  American  republics, 
there  will  be  open  to  us  a  new  market  for  the  surplus 
products  of  our  farms  and  factories.  We  shall  re 
light  the  seas  of  the  globe  with  the  stars  of  our  flag, 
and  the  American  Republic  will  hold  its  place  in  the 
van  of  marching  empire." 

Reciprocity  received  a  temporary  setback  when  the 
Democratic  Party  came  into  power  in  1893,  as  it  was 
abolished  by  the  Fifty-third  Congress.  By  this  time, 
however,  it  had  become  a  fundamental  basis  of  the 
Republican  faith, — as  President  Roosevelt  later  ex 
pressed  it,  "Reciprocity  is  the  handmaiden  of  Protec 
tion." 

After  reading  the  address  before  the  Boston  Mer 
chants'  Association,  it  is  interesting  to  consider  Bur 
rows'  exposition  of  Reciprocity  as  it  appeared  to  him 
in  1902,  ten  years  later.  It  is  of  particular  interest 
to  the  biographer  inasmuch  as  the  antagonistic  posi- 


290  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1889 

tion  taken  by  Burrows  upon  Cuban  Reciprocity  imme 
diately  following  this  period  has  been  assumed  by 
many  to  show  a  lack  of  consistency.  This  is  what 
Burrows  said  in  1902: 

"The  subject  of  Reciprocity  is  attracting  wide 
spread  attention  of  late,  so  much  so  that  we  hear  on 
every  hand  discussion  of  reciprocity  with  France, 
with  Argentine,  with  Cuba,  with  the  British  West 
Indies,  with  Canada,  and  with  various  other  parts  of 
the  world  more  or  less  intimately  associated  with  us 
by  ties  of  friendship  or  geographical  proximity. 
This  subject  of  Reciprocity  is  not  a  new  one,  and  it 
would  seem  as  though  a  question  which  had  been  dis 
cussed  with  such  thoroughness  and  through  as  many 
years  would  have  assumed  a  certain  definite  and  fixed 
aspect  which  every  one  would  recognize  and  accept. 
But  even  after  these  years  of  discussion  the  doctrine 
of  Reciprocity  at  times  takes  on  proportions  quite 
beyond  those  given  it  by  its  most  sturdy  upholders. 
It  may  be  well,  therefore,  to  consider  just  what  Reci 
procity  is  and  what  it  is  not. 

"The  term  itself  is  rather  ambiguous,  and  in  the 
abstract  it  is  like  those  good  and  homely  virtues  of 
friendship,  generosity,  and  comity,  which  need  only 
to  be  mentioned  in  order  to  be  accepted.  Indeed, 
one  of  the  ancient  sages  has  placed  Reciprocity  as 
foremost  among  the  virtues,  so  that  in  the  abstract 


1902]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      291 

Reciprocity  is  as  much  a  principle  of  human  action  as 
is  generosity.  But  in  being  generous  it  is  desirable 
first  to  be  just;  and  so  with  Reciprocity.  When  it 
comes  to  giving  it  concrete  form  as  an  economic  prin 
ciple  of  commerce  and  of  international  intercourse, 
then  it  becomes  necessary  to  consider  those  well-de 
fined  limitations  designed  to  give  it  just,  beneficial, 
and  practical  effect. 

"True  Reciprocity  has  been  a  cardinal  principle  in 
our  public  affairs  for  many  years.  Those  who  have 
developed  the  American  system  of  Protection  have 
at  the  same  time  advocated  Reciprocity,  so  that  these 
two  great  American  principles,  Protection  and  Reci 
procity,  have  gone  hand  in  hand,  each  as  a  supple 
ment  to  the  other.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind,  how 
ever,  that  there  have  long  been  distinct  and  positive 
limitations  to  the  application  of  this  principle  of  Reci 
procity.  For  instance,  Reciprocity  does  not  mean 
unfair  trade  with  foreign  countries ;  it  does  not  mean 
the  opening  of  our  vast  markets  to  foreign  goods  for 
competition  with  our  own  goods  on  equal  terms.  On 
the  contrary,  genuine  Reciprocity  means  only  such 
concessions  to  foreign  countries  as  will  bring  us  an 
ample  equivalent  in  trade  concessions  from  such 
countries,  coupled  with  the  further  and  cardinal  prin 
ciple  that  the  products  admitted  into  this  market  from 
foreign  countries  must  be  such  as  do  not  compete 


292  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1889 

with  any  established  industry  in  the  United  States,  or 
will  not,  if  admitted,  endanger  the  stability  and  con 
tinuous  prosperity  of  such  industry. 

"The  essential  idea  of  those  whose  names  have 
been  prominently  identified  with  Reciprocity  has  been 
such  an  exchange  of  commodities  as  would  not  en 
danger  our  own  industries.  In  President  McKinley's 
Reciprocity  speech  at  Buffalo  he  was  careful  to  make 
plain  the  proper  limitation  of  true  Reciprocity. 
Whatever  allusions  he  made, — and  there  were  at 
least  three  references  to  foreign  trade, — he  was  most 
careful  to  guard  his  expressions  so  as  to  conform  to 
what  has  been  regarded,  and  what  is,  the  established 
doctrine  on  Reciprocity. 

"For  instance,  speaking  of  trade  arrangements 
with  foreign  countries,  he  said:  'By  sensible  trade 
arrangements,  which  will  not  interrupt  our  home  pro 
duction,  we  should  extend  the  outlets  for  our  increas 
ing  surplus.'  There  it  is  perfectly  apparent  that 
admitting  and  recognizing  the  necessity  for  a  market 
for  our  surplus  products  of  the  farm  and  of  the  fac 
tory,  yet  he  would  not  secure  that  foreign  market  for 
this  surplus  by  any  process  which  would  'interrupt 
our  home  production.9 

"Again  he  said,  'We  should  take  from  our  custom 
ers  such  of  their  products  as  we  can  use  without  harm 
to  our  industries  and  labor.'  There,  again,  the  doc- 


1902]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY     293 

trine  of  Reciprocity  was  sharply  and  clearly  guarded 
by  the  expression  'such  products  as  we  can  use  with 
out  harm  to  our  own  industries,'  showing  that  he  was 
keeping  steadily  in  view  the  protection  of  our  own 
labor  and  our  own  industries.  Then,  again,  in  that 
same  speech,  he  said:  'If,  perchance,  some  of  our 
tariffs  are  no  longer  needed  for  revenue,  or  to  en 
courage  and  protect  our  industries  at  home,  why 
should  they  not  be  employed  to  extend  and  promote 
our  markets  abroad?'  While  he  thus  recognized  the 
fact,  which  we  all  recognize,  that  some  tariffs  are  no 
longer  needed  for  revenue  and  could  therefore  be  dis 
pensed  with,  yet  it  will  be  observed  that  he  even 
guarded  cases  of  that  kind  with  the  further  expres 
sion  that  such  tariffs  were  not  to  be  surrendered  as  a 
basis  for  Reciprocity,  even  if  not  needed  for  revenue, 
if  they  served  'to  protect  and  encourage  our  industries 
at  home.' 

"Such  a  declaration  on  the  part  of  William  Mc- 
IGnley  was  but  a  reaffirmation  of  what  I  know  to  have 
been  his  lifelong  conviction  upon  the  question  of 
Reciprocity,  and  for  him  in  the  closing  years  of  his 
public  career  to  abandon  the  cardinal  principle  of  his 
lifework  is  not  conceivable. 

"So,  in  a  word,  I  may  say  that  true  and  just  Reci 
procity  is  that  which  admits  into  this  market  things 
we  do  not  and  cannot  produce,  in  exchange  for  an 


294  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1889 

equivalent  in  the  market  of  the  country  thus  favored 
by  us.  But  under  no  circumstances  can  we  admit 
into  this  country,  either  free  of  duty  or  at  a  low  rate 
of  duty,  goods  coming  in  competition  with  our  home 
production  and  our  home  labor,  which  would  have  a 
tendency  to  jeopardize  the  prosperity  of  either  the 
factory  or  labor.  Reciprocal  trade  based  upon  ad 
mitting  into  this  market  things  we  do  not  produce  is 
quite  difficult  of  accomplishment,  because  of  the  im 
portant  fact  that  forty-three  per  cent,  of  all  our  im 
ports  into  the  United  States  today  come  in  free  of 
duty.  Forty-three  per  cent,  of  our  tremendous 
imports  free  of  duty!  With  this  condition  estab 
lished,  of  course  it  is  too  late  to  make  reciprocal  ar 
rangements  with  countries  already  favored  by  the 
free  entry  of  their  goods  into  our  markets. 

"The  plea  put  forward  as  to  the  necessity  of  a  for 
eign  market  is  very  much  overestimated.  It  is  a  fact 
that  the  industrial  output  of  the  United  States  last 
year,  embracing  the  farm,  the  factories,  the  mines, 
and  the  forest,  aggregated  $21,500,000,000.  Of 
that  tremendous  aggregate  the  United  States  con 
sumed  within  its  own  borders  $20,OOO,OOO,OOO, 
leaving  but  $1,500,000,000  seeking  foreign  mar 
kets.  Certainly  we  should  be  very  careful  in  what 
ever  arrangements  we  make  to  protect  first  the  home 
market,  which  is  such  an  absorbent  of  home  products, 


1902]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY     295 

and  we  shall  make  a  frightful  blunder  to  lessen  one 
iota  the  capacity  of  the  home  market  for  the  uncer 
tain  and  temporary  advantage  of  any  foreign  market. 

"But  if  we  turn  to  our  foreign  markets  they  seem 
to  be  in  such  vigorous  health  that  we  could  well 
afford  to  let  present  conditions  alone.  Our  exports 
during  the  eleven  months  ending  last  November 
reached  the  enormous  total  of  $1,302,760,535. 
Our  imports  during  this  same  period  aggregated 
$800,426,231.  So  that,  by  the  latest  available  sta 
tistics,  the  balance  of  trade  is  in  our  favor  by  $548,- 
463,157.  This  is  a  really  remarkable  showing,  un- 
equaled  by  any  other  country  in  the  world,  either  as 
to  exports  or  balance  of  trade.  Why,  then,  should 
there  be  any  anxiety  about  not  getting  our  share  of 
foreign  markets?  Our  present  commanding  and 
controlling  position  in  these  markets  indicates  that 
our  foreign  trade  is  in  a  very  vital  and  healthful  con 
dition. 

"It  is  well  to  observe,  in  connection  with  the  cry 
for  more  foreign  markets,  that  we  are  today  making 
inroads  throughout  Europe.  This  is  particularly 
true  as  to  England,  because  that  country  has  Free 
Trade.  Germany,  France,  and  Austria  raised  tariff 
barriers  which  impeded  our  entry  into  their  markets; 
nevertheless,  we  have  made  advances  in  spite  of  all 
their  barriers.  In  fact,  if  all  the  markets  of  Europe 


296  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1889 

were  open  to  us  we  would  drive  Europe  out  of  her 
own  markets,  by  reason  of  our  wonderful  advance 
ment  in  machinery,  in  inventive  genius,  and  our 
economy  in  production. 

"Over  and  above  all  that  comes  the  great  advan 
tages  of  our  position  in  the  Philippines  and  the  Orient. 
Taking  Manila  as  a  center,  the  country  tributary  to  it 
has  a  population  of  more  than  8oo,OOO,OOO,  with  a 
trade  commonly  called  the  'trade  of  the  Orient,'  of 
$2,OOO,OOO,OOO.  The  Orient,  so  called,  bought  of 
foreign  countries  $1,2OO,OOO,OOO  worth  of  goods,  or 
$1OO,OOO,OOO  a  month,  of  which  the  United  States 
unfortunately  commanded  only  nine  per  cent.,  and 
yet  the  goods  seeking  this  market  were  the  very  goods 
we  produce  in  the  United  States,  on  the  farm  and  in 
the  factory,  for  the  surplus  of  which  we  are  anxious 
to  secure  a  foreign  market.  It  is  this  vast  trade  of 
the  Orient,  in  my  mind,  that  affords  us  the  great  out 
let  of  the  future,  without  Reciprocity  for  our  growing 
surplus. 

"When  it  comes  to  considering  Reciprocity  in  the 
light  of  experience,  it  can  hardly  be  said  that  it  has 
proved  an  instrument  for  opening  markets  for  our 
surplus  products.  Our  treaty  with  Canada,  which 
lasted  about  ten  years,  was  really  most  disastrous. 
We  sold  less  to  Canada  at  the  end  of  the  period  than 
we  did  at  the  beginning,  while  she  flooded  our  mar- 


1902]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      297 

kets.  In  1854,  the  year  before  the  reciprocity 
period  began,  we  sold  to  Canada  $24,157,612.  But 
in  1866,  after  ten  years  of  Reciprocity,  our  sales  to 
Canada  were  down  to  $23,439,115.  On  the  other 
hand,  Canada  benefited  enormously.  In  1854  she 
was  sending  us  $8,784,412.  This  soon  doubled  and 
quadrupled  under  Reciprocity,  and  was  six-fold,  viz., 
$48,133,599,  at  the  close  of  the  reciprocity  period. 
No  wonder  Canada  desires  by  Reciprocity  to  cross  the 
border  and  gain  our  vast  markets  in  exchange  for  her 
small  markets. 

"This  is  a  fair  illustration  of  the  effect  of  false 
Reciprocity.  Surely  it  is  not  such  Reciprocity  which 
reduces  our  foreign  markets  and  surrenders  our  home 
market  to  the  foreigner  that  we  are  seeking.  On  the 
contrary,  whatever  is  done  in  the  line  of  true  Reci 
procity  must  be  strictly  within  those  well-defined 
limits  which  experience  dictates,  namely,  that  no 
American  industry  is  to  be  imperiled  in  its  stability  or 
prosperity." 

At  the  time  Burrows  wrote  the  foregoing  words 
McKinley  was  serving  his  second  term  as  President. 
The  disturbing  problem  of  the  Currency  had  settled 
down  upon  an  apparently  satisfactory  basis,  and  Na 
tional  credit  was  reestablished.  The  country,  as  a 
whole,  was  prosperous,  and  the  Nation  had  taken  a 
new  place  before  the  world  which  made  its  position 


298  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [i! 

upon  all  subjects  stand  out  in  greater  prominence. 
McKinley  was  heartily  in  sympathy  with  the  prin 
ciples  and  the  workings  of  the  Reciprocity  policy,  as 
he  attributed  to  this  in  certain  measure  the  advance 
of  the  country  politically  as  well  as  industrially. 
"He  realized,"  states  McKinley's  biographer,  "that 
the  diversified  production  made  possible  by  the  rapid 
growth  of  the  industries  of  the  country  had  out 
stripped  the  capacity  of  the  home  market  to  absorb  it, 
and  that  the  foreign  markets  must  be  enlarged  by 
broader  commercial  relations.  Reciprocity  arrange 
ments  had  already  been  negotiated  with  France, 
Portugal,  Italy,  and  Germany,  and  with  Great  Britain 
for  her  West  Indian  possessions;  also  with  Nicaragua, 
Ecuador,  and  the  Dominican  Republic,  and  with 
Denmark  in  behalf  of  the  Island  of  St.  Croix.  These 
conventions  were  then  pending  in  the  Senate,  and  it 
was  the  intention  of  the  President  to  secure  their  rati 
fication,  if  possible,  and  then  to  arrange  new  treaties 
with  other  nations.  This  policy,  in  his  judgment, 
would  preserve  the  principles  of  Protection  at  home 
and  at  the  same  time  secure  an  outlet  for  the  surplus 
products  in  foreign  markets.  He  saw  in  the  idea  the 
supreme  development  of  the  theory  to  which  he  had 
given  so  many  years  of  his  life." 

Burrows   sympathized   entirely  with   McKinley's 

lOlcott:  "Life  of  McKinley,"  volume  II,  page  298. 


1902]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      299 

attitude,  and,  in  fact,  had  done  his  part  in  bringing 
McKinley  to  this  viewpoint.  Burrows,  because  of 
his  earlier  association  with  the  subject  of  Reciprocity 
at  Elaine's  behest,  was  perhaps  more  deeply  steeped 
than  any  other  man  in  the  Republican  ranks  with  the 
absolute  belief  that  Reciprocity  permitted  the  fullest 
and  the  ripest  expression  of  Protection.  And  yet, 
Burrows  is  classified  as  an  opponent  of  Reciprocity 
when  applied  to  Cuba ! 

Burrows  once  made  the  statement,  "Everybody  is 
for  Reciprocity  provided  it  is  at  the  expense  of  some 
body  else,"  and  this  remark  came  home  to  him  many 
times  during  the  struggle  over  Cuban  Reciprocity. 
This,  in  brief,  was  an  effort  made  by  the  Roosevelt 
Administration  to  apply  the  principles  of  Reciprocity 
to  the  little  Island  for  whose  independence  we  had  so 
recently  become  sponsor.  In  accomplishing  this,  a 
diminution  was  proposed  of  the  duty  on  sugar,  which 
was  to  be  offset  by  a  reduction  on  the  part  of  Cuba  of 
duties  on  imports  from  the  United  States  of  all  kinds, 
thus  extending  the  market  for  our  own  manufactures 
and  the  profitable  demand  for  our  labor.  All  this 
would  seem  to  be  in  the  direction  of  the  Reciprocity 
of  Elaine  and  McKinley,  and,  in  part,  a  consumma 
tion  of  Garfield's  ideal,  "the  Protection  that  leads  to 
Free  Trade."  And  yet,  Burrows  not  only  arrayed 
himself  against  this  treaty,  but  succeeded  by  allying 


300  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [H 

with  himself  twenty  other  Senators,  in  successfully 
blocking  the  passage  of  the  Bill  in  spite  of  the  tre 
mendous  pressure  brought  to  bear  by  President 
Roosevelt  and  the  entire  Administrative  forces. 
This  caused  an  instant  outcry,  charging  that  Burrows 
was  protecting  the  beet-sugar  interests  of  Michigan. 
Some  of  the  attacks  were  bitter,  some  were  amusing. 
The  following,  for  example,  is  taken  from  the  New 
York  World: 

THE  MILK  IN  THE  COCOANUT 

OR 

THE  SECRET  OF  SUPPORT  FOR 
RECIPROCITY  LAID  BARE 

WASHINGTON,  November  21 
rA  drama  in  one  short  act 

SCENE  :     The  White  House 
TIME:     Friday,  Nov.  21,  1902 

CHARACTERS 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 
HENRY  CABOT  LODGE,  a  Senator  from  Massachusetts 
JULIUS  CESAR  BURROWS,  a  Senator  from  Michigan 
ARGUMENT:     The  PRESIDENT  desires  a  Reciprocity 
Treaty  admitting  dried  codfish  from  Newfound 
land  at  reduced  rates  into  the  United  States  in 


1902]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY     301 

return  for  tariff  concessions  for  articles  made  in 
this  country,  and  a  Reciprocity  Treaty  making 
a  reduction  on  the  duty  on  Cuban  sugar  in  re 
turn  for  tariff  concessions  on  American-made 
goods. 

PLOT:     Massachusetts  produces  dried  codfish  and 
Michigan  produces  beet  sugar. 

ACT  I 

(The  President  is  discovered  pacing  up  and  down 
his  private  office  in  the  White  House.  Senator 
Lodge  sits  on  one  side  of  the  room  and  Senator  Bur 
rows  on  the  other.) 

The  PRESIDENT.  "Lodge,  what  do  you  think  the 
chances  are  for  Cuban  Reciprocity  this  Winter?" 

Senator  LODGE.  "Excellent,  I  should  say,  Mr. 
President.  We  want  to  assure  you  that  we,  of  Massa 
chusetts,  will  stand  loyally  by  your  Cuban  Reciproc 
ity  policy  in  Congress  this  Winter.  We  approve  it 
and  we  shall  support  it,  but — 

The  PRESIDENT.     "But  what?" 

Senator  LODGE.  "But  we  cannot  approve,  and 
shall  not  support  your  policy  as  regards  dried  cod 
fish.  There  must  be  no  reciprocity  on  codfish.  We 
produce  codfish.  As  for  sugar,  which  we  do  not 
produce,  we  are  with  you." 

The  PRESIDENT  (turning  to  Senator  Burrows). 


302  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1889 

"Burrows,  what  do  you  think  about  it?  Where  does 
Michigan  stand?" 

Senator  BURROWS.  "Michigan  is  loyally  with 
you,  Mr.  President,  back  to  back,  firm  and  united,  in, 
support  of  your  codfish  policy,  but — " 

The  PRESIDENT.     "But  what?" 

Senator  BURROWS.  "But  we  cannot  approve,  and 
must  proceed  with  extreme  caution  as  regards  your 
policy  of  lowering  the  tariff  on  Cuban  sugar.  We 
produce  sugar.  We  do  not  produce  codfish.  We 
stand  for  you  on  the  codfish  proposition." 

The  PRESIDENT.     "Ah-h-h!" 

CURTAIN 

Here  we  see  the  personal  application  of  Burrows' 
witticism.  The  contention  that  he  was  protecting 
the  interests  of  his  State  was  well  founded.  He  was 
one  of  the  few  who  were  wise  enough  to  discern  that 
the  Bill  was  really  in  the  interest  of  the  Sugar  Trust, 
and  that  the  result  of  the  measure,  if  enacted,  would 
be  to  cripple  all  independent  concerns  outside  the 
Trust.  The  mass  of  the  people  believed  the  specious 
plea  that  Cuba  would  be  benefited  by  the  proposed 
reduction  in  the  tariff,  but  Burrows  refused  to  be 
diverted.  He  contended  that  in  taking  his  stand  he 
was  protecting  all  those  interests  of  all  the  States 
which  the  policy  of  Protection  was  intended  to  foster, 


1902]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY     303 

and  was  preventing  the  principle  of  Reciprocity  from 
interfering  with  the  bulwark  of  protection  to  Ameri 
can  industries.  If  we  turn  back  to  the  quotation 
already  made  from  his  speech  in  1902  we  find  that  he 
says,  "Genuine  Reciprocity  means  only  such  conces 
sions  to  foreign  countries  as  will  bring  us  an  ample 
equivalent  in  trade  concessions  from  such  countries, 
coupled  with  the  further  and  cardinal  principle  that 
the  products  admitted  into  this  market  from  foreign 
countries  must  be  such  as  do  not  compete  with  any 
established  industry  in  the  United  States,  or  will  not, 
if  admitted,  endanger  the  stability  and  continuous 
prosperity  of  such  industries."  Again,  he  states, 
"True  Reciprocity  does  not  involve  the  destruction  of 
American  industries  or  the  surrender  of  American 
markets  for  American  products." 

The  struggle  in  the  Senate  became  historical. 
After  three  months'  work  Burrows  had  allied  with 
him  against  the  Bill  Senators  Perkins  and  Bard,  of 
California;  Gamble  and  Kittredge,  of  South  Dakota; 
Elkins  and  Scott,  of  West  Virginia;  Millard  and  Die 
trich,  of  Nebraska;  Nelson  and  Clapp,  of  Minnesota; 
Foster,  of  Washington;  Mitchell  and  Simon,  of  Ore 
gon;  Burton,  of  Kansas;  Kearns,  of  Utah;  Pritchard, 
of  North  Carolina;  Mason,  of  Illinois;  Jones  and 
Stewart,  of  Nevada;  and  Wellington,  of  Maryland. 

i  Colliers  Weekly. 


304  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1889 

Elkins  joined  hands  with  him  in  leading  the  fight, 
but  Elkins  was  opposed  to  Cuban  Reciprocity  because 
he  believed  that  this  country  had  done  enough  for 
Cuba.  This  alliance  held  together  during  the  entire 
session  of  Congress  in  spite  of  the  personal  influence 
brought  to  bear  by  President  Roosevelt  and  the  pro- 
Reciprocity  members  of  the  Senate.  Senator  Fora- 
ker  in  a  speech  spoke  of  Burrows  as  the  "General 
from  Michigan  who  had  stood  his  forces  up  to  be 
counted  and  sat  them  down  again."  The  fact  that 
the  Sugar  Trust  was  largely  interested  in  Cuban 
plantations  became  noised  abroad,  and  in  June,  1902, 
the  Administration  gave  up  its  attempt  to  push  the 
Bill  through. 

Burrows  received  congratulations  from  all  parts  of 
the  country  on  what  was  regarded  as  the  greatest  feat 
of  his  Congressional  career,  and  it  was  generally  con 
sidered  that  the  beet  sugar  industry  in  this  country 
was  safely  protected. 

The  aftermath  to  this  event  is  interesting  from  a 
public  standpoint.  In  the  following  session  of  Con 
gress  the  Cuban  Treaty  again  came  under  considera 
tion  in  the  Senate,  and  Burrows  was  again  prepared 
to  defend  the  American  sugar  interests.  It  suddenly 
developed,  however,  that  there  was  a  notable  falling 
off  in  the  activity  and  interest  of  the  beet  sugar  manu- 


>  +  »«»«»«*»»««• 


CARTOON     FROM     THE     DETROIT         JOURNAL 

IQ02 


1902]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      305 

facturers.  Several  of  the  chief  protestants  against 
Reciprocity  with  Cuba  went  away,  giving  various  rea 
sons  for  not  returning;  Senators  who,  in  the  previous 
session,  had  been  encouraged  to  take  up  the  cause  by 
the  representations  of  these  men,  now  found  little 
influence  being  brought  to  bear  upon  them;  data 
which  had  been  promised  to  show  how  the  reduction 
in  the  tariff  would  cripple  the  industry,  although 
promised,  failed  to  be  supplied.  Finally  it  leaked 
out  in  Washington  that  several  of  the  leading  beet 
sugar  factories  in  Michigan  had  been  bought  by  the 
Sugar  Trust,  and  Senator  Burrows  now  found  himself 
almost  without  a  constituent,  when,  at  the  last  session, 
he  had  been  flooded  with  delegations  pleading  for  his 
assistance  with  tears  in  their  eyes.  The  National 
Beet  Sugar  Association  expressed  itself  as  willing  to 
stand  the  small  differential  in  the  treaty  in  favor  of 
Cuban  sugar  provided  this  settled  the  matter  for  a 
period  of  not  less  than  five  years.  This  amendment 
Senator  Burrows  succeeded  in  securing.  Article 
Eight  was  amended  to  make  the  Cuban  differential  on 
sugar  twenty  per  cent,  for  a  term  of  five  years.  Inas 
much  as  those  representing  the  beet  sugar  industry 
of  America  expressed  themselves  satisfied  with  this 
arrangement,  Burrows  withdrew  further  opposition  to 
the  Bill,  and  it  was  passed  on  this  basis.  Later,  how- 


306  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1889 

ever,  individual  beet  sugar  growers  saw  the  mistake 
they  had  made,  and  tried  to  enlist  Senator  Burrows' 
assistance  and  sympathy;  but  the  treaty  had  been 
completed,  and,  under  all  the  circumstances,  perhaps 
Burrows  had  lost  some  of  his  original  enthusiasm. 


CHAPTER  XI 
THE  WILSON  BILL.     1894 

WITH  the  Democrats  in  full  control  of  both 
Houses  of  Congress  and  of  the  Presidency  for 
the  first  time  in  over  thirty  years,  they  undertook  to 
make  good  their  campaign  promises  regarding  Tariff, 
and  signally  failed.  It  was,  of  course,  unfortunate 
for  them  that  while  the  revision  was  under  way  Con 
gress  itself  was  so  frequently  interrupted  by  petty 
discussions  regarding  the  Currency,  and  it  also  oper 
ated  against  the  Party  in  power  to  have  the  revenues 
themselves  cut  down  because  of  financial  disturb 
ances  before  any  actual  progress  could  be  made  with 
the  new  Tariff  Bill.  The  real  difficulty,  however, 
was  that  the  Party  could  not  come  to  any  definite 
agreement  within  itself,  and  President  Cleveland  was 
entirely  out  of  sympathy  with  many  of  his  Party 
leaders. 

The  new  Tariff  measure  which  became  known  as 
the  Wilson  Bill  was  in  effect  a  compromise  with  those 
Democrats  favoring  Protection,  and,  to  make  it  still 
more  unpopular,  an  income  tax  was  added,  which  was 

later  declared  unconstitutional  by  the  Supreme  Court. 

307 


308  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN  [1894 

The  Bill  abolished  Reciprocity.  It  became  law  with 
out  the  President's  signature,  and  satisfied  no  one. 

Burrows,  a  minority  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means  at  this  time,  was  the  chief  spokes 
man  against  the  Bill,  and  his  speech,  extracts  of  which 
are  now  given,  is  of  particular  value  because  of  the 
analytical  comparison  which  he  makes  between  the 
McKinley  Bill  as  misrepresented  and  as  actually  in 
operation,  and  between  the  McKinley  Bill  and  the 
proposed  new  legislation.  In  the  course  of  this 
speech  he  supported  his  statements  with  skilfully 
selected  citations  from  Daniel  Webster  and  Fisher 
Ames,  Presidents  Madison,  Adams,  Jefferson,  and 
Monroe;  from  Secretaries  Hamilton,  Gallatin,  Dallas, 
Crawford,  Meredith,  and  Sherman;  from  George  C. 
Tichenor,  one  of  the  most  accomplished  and  trust 
worthy  Special  Agents  ever  connected  with  the  Treas 
ury  Department;  from  Consuls  Mason  of  Basle,  Shaw 
of  Manchester,  and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  Howell 
Cobb.  The  indefatigable  study  which  Burrows  put 
upon  the  subject  matter  in  his  debates  gave  conclusive 
strength  to  his  arguments.  In  this  speech,  delivered 
on  January  9,  1894,  he  said: 

"The  measure  now  under  consideration  has  for  its 
avowed  object  a  radical  modification  of  the  Tariff  Act 
of  1890.  It  involves  not  only  a  change  of  rates  but 
a  complete  reversal  of  an  economic  policy.  The  law 


1894]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      309 

of  1890  was  enacted  not  only  with  a  view  of  securing 
revenue  for  the  support  of  the  Government,  but  for 
the  further  purpose  of  giving  encouragement  to  the 
creation  of  new  enterprises,  and  protection  to  Ameri 
can  industries  and  American  workmen  against  un 
equal  and  injurious  foreign  competition.  In  its 
practical  workings  it  accomplished  both  these  results. 
That  Act  went  into  effect  October  6,  1890,  and  as  a 
measure  for  revenue  it  met,  so  long  as  its  operation 
was  undisturbed,  the  needed  requirements  of  the  Gov 
ernment.  .  .  . 

"Since  the  1st  of  July,  1893,  however,  there  has 
been  a  marked  decline  in  the  public  revenues  until 
they  have  actually  fallen  below  the  requirements  for 
the  public  service.  ...  I  venture  to  suggest,  how 
ever,  in  this  connection,  that  this  decline  in  the  public 
revenues  during  the  present  fiscal  year  is  not  attribu 
table  to  any  defect  in  the  law  of  1890,  but  rather  to 
the  general  derangement  and  prostration  of  business 
throughout  the  country.  The  ascendency  of  a  politi 
cal  Party  pledged  to  the  destruction  of  our  protective 
policy  has  not  only  crippled  and  suspended  the  opera 
tion  of  our  domestic  manufacturers,  but  the  importer 
of  foreign  fabrics  naturally  curtails  his  importations 
in  the  hope  of  securing  their  admission  into  our  mar 
kets  upon  more  favorable  conditions.  I  confidently 
assert  that  if  the  election  of  1892  had  resulted  in  the 


310  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1894 

retention  of  the  Republican  Party  in  power,  accom 
panied  as  it  would  have  been  with  the  assurance  of 
the  continuance  of  the  American  policy  of  Protection, 
the  effect  upon  the  public  revenues  as  well  as  the 
general  prosperity  of  the  country  would  have  been 
entirely  reversed.  ...  If,  however,  it  had  failed  to 
yield  the  full  measure  of  such  requirement,  the  defi 
ciency  could  have  easily  been  supplied  without  dis 
turbing  the  business  interests  of  the  country  by  a 
general  revision  of  the  tariff.  .  .  . 

"As  a  measure  of  protection  to  American  industries 
and  American  labor,  the  Act  of  1890  in  its  results 
more  than  justified  the  prediction  of  its  friends. 
That  it  would  stimulate  the  development  of  new  en 
terprises  and  promote  the  growth  of  established  indus 
tries  was  confidently  asserted,  but  that  its  beneficent 
effect  would  be  so  quickly  manifest  and  so  marvelous 
exceeded  the  highest  hopes  of  the  most  sanguine. 
It  induced  capital  to  embark  in  untried  ventures,  en 
larged  the  field  of  labor's  profitable  employment, 
augmented  our  domestic  and  foreign  trade,  and  quick 
ened  with  a  new  life  the  manifold  industries  of  all  our 
people.  .  .  . 

"You  said  it  would  develop  no  new  industries, — 
it  created  them  by  the  hundreds.  You  said  it  would 
bring  no  resultant  benefits  to  our  workmen, — it 
secured  for  them  enlarged  employment  and  increased 


1894]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      311 

wages.  You  said  it  would  enhance  the  cost  of  the 
protected  article, — it  cheapened  it  to  the  consumer. 
You  said  it  would  diminish  our  foreign  trade,- — it 
augmented  it  in  1892  to  $1,857,680,610,  an  increase 
over  the  previous  year  of  $128,283,604.  You  said 
it  would  shut  out  our  products  from  foreign  markets, 
— our  export  trade  increased  $145,797,388,  swelling 
its  volume  to  $1,030,278,148,  the  largest  ever 
known  in  the  history  of  the  country,  and  exceeding 
the  value  of  our  imports  by  $202,875,686.  You 
said  it  would  paralyze  our  domestic  trade, — it  was 
never  more  vigorous  than  in  the  years  immediately 
following  its  enactment.  And  so  every  prophecy  of 
ill  found  swift  and  complete  refutation  in  increased 
industrial  activity  on  every  hand,  and  enhanced  indi 
vidual  and  National  prosperity. 

"We  are  therefore  justified  in  asserting  that  the 
Act  of  1890,  could  its  permanency  have  been  assured, 
would  have  accomplished  the  double  purpose  for 
which  it  was  enacted, — revenue  and  protection.  It 
may  be  answered,  however,  that  the  Tariff  Act  of 
1890  has  been  in  continuous  operation  since  its  enact 
ment  and  is  still  in  force,  and  yet  under  it  revenues 
have  declined  and  industries  decayed.  Conceding 
this  to  be  true,  we  deny  that  the  existing  deplorable 
condition  of  the  country  is  attributable  in  any  degree 
whatever  to  the  law  itself.  The  McKinley  Tariff 


312  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1894 

never  closed  a  mill  in  the  United  States,  shut  up  a 
mine,  stopped  a  wheel,  blew  out  a  furnace  fire,  or 
drove  a  single  workman  into  the  streets.  This  gen 
eral  paralysis  of  business  throughout  the  country 
comes  solely  from  the  ascendency  of  a  political  Party 
pledged  to  the  repeal  of  the  Act  of  1890,  and  the  sub 
stitution  therefor  of  a  tariff  divested  of  all  protective 
features.  .  .  . 

"How  easily  you  might  demonstrate  the  beneficial 
effects  of  restored  confidence!  You  have  but  to 
abandon  the  policy  upon  which  you  have  entered, 
recommit  this  Bill,  and  permit  existing  tariff  regula 
tions  to  remain  undisturbed,  and  all  our  industries 
will  quickly  revive.  .  .  . 

"The  first  proposition  arresting  attention  in  this 
Bill  is  the  proposed  transfer  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-one  articles  from  the  dutiable  to  the  free  list. 
...  It  will  not  escape  notice  in  this  connection  that 
upon  examination  of  the  list  of  articles  thus  trans 
ferred  from  the  dutiable  to  the  free  list  the  interests 
of  the  farmer  seem  to  have  been  selected  for  special 
assault  and  destruction,  as  nearly  one-half  of  the  items 
embraced  in  this  proposed  transfer  are  the  fruits  of 
domestic  husbandry.  .  .  . 

"Such  a  proposition  would  at  any  time  arrest 
public  attention,  but  to  be  made  in  the  presence  of  a 
depleted  Treasury,  and  with  its  Secretary  asking  to 


1894]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      313 

be  clothed  with  power  to  issue  bonds  on  which  he  may 
borrow  money  to  meet  the  current  expenses  of  the 
Government,  is  a  proposition  so  startling  as  to  chal 
lenge  the  credulity  of  mankind.  There  is  only  one 
explanation  possible,  and  that  is  found  in  the  excla 
mation  of  an  English  statesman:  It  is  Free  Trade 
gone  mad.'  The  present  free  list  ought  to  be  suf 
ficient  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  the  most  advanced 
Free-Trader.  The  Act  of  1890  enlarged  it  to  the 
very  limit  of  safety  to  American  industries  and  Ameri 
can  labor.  .  .  . 

"Heretofore  if  there  was  any  one  class  of  our  peo 
ple  the  Democratic  Party  inveighed  against  more  than 
another  it  was  the  manufacturer,  but  he  has  now,  it 
seems,  become  the  object  of  your  deepest  solicitude, 
while  the  humble  laborer,  for  whom  you  have  pro 
fessed  so  much  anxiety  in  the  past,  is  abandoned  to 
an  unequal  battle  with  his  foreign  antagonists.  The 
hardy  miner,  the  intelligent  flock-master  and  farmer, 
and  all  the  producers  of  what  you  are  pleased  to  call 
craw  materials,'  are  to  be  forced  to  contend  unaided 
with  the  cheapest  labor  on  the  globe,  that  the  manu 
facturer  may  enjoy  the  boon  of  'free  raw  material.' 

"Why  should  not  the  producers  of  raw  material  be 
accorded  the  same  consideration  as  the  manufacturer 
of  that  material  into  his  finished  product?  Why 
should  the  miner  in  his  perilous  vocation  be  utterly 


3H  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1894 

abandoned,  while  the  workers  in  the  raw  material 
which  he  produces  are  given  some  measure  of  con 
sideration?  Why  should  the  farmer,  having  in 
vested  his  all  in  fields  and  flocks,  be  forced  into  an 
unequal  competition  with  Australia  and  South  Amer 
ica,  while  the  manufacturer  of  woolen  fabrics  secures 
some  measure  of  protection?  And  in  this  connec 
tion  it  is  but  just  to  say  that  the  woolen  manufac 
turers  as  a  body  demand  no  such  unjustifiable  dis 
crimination. 

"But  I  notice  every  Tariff  Reformer'  urges  free 
raw  material  as  an  indispensable  adjunct  to  the  con 
summation  of  his  theory.  'There  is  method  in  his 
madness.'  No  one  understands  better  than  he  that 
free  raw  material  will  be  swiftly  followed  by  free 
manufactured  goods.  It  will  be  protection  for  all  or 
protection  for  none.  When  you  force  the  producers 
of  raw  material  unto  unrestrained  competition  with 
the  world,  the  manufacturers  of  this  raw  material 
into  the  finished  fabric  will  speedily  share  the  same 
fate.  .  .  . 

"The  iron  in  the  mountain,  the  coal  in  its  native 
bed,  the  trees  in  the  forest,  the  stone  in  the  quarry, — 
these  are  raw  material  in  their  natural  condition,  and 
untouched  by  the  hand  of  labor  would  remain  raw 
material  forever,  and  continue  absolutely  valueless. 
But  when  labor  touches  them,  and  transforms  them  to 


1894]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      315 

the  uses  of  mankind,  that  moment  they  cease  to  be 
raw  material,  and  become  the  finished  product  of  in 
vested  capital  and  expended  labor.  You  may  con 
tinue  to  delude  yourself  with  the  theory  that  these 
things  are  raw  material,  but  you  will  not  deceive  the 
intelligent  labor  of  this  country,  through  whose 
mighty  energies  they  are  produced.  .  .  . 

"We  of  the  minority  intend  to  resist  to  the  last 
this  wanton  destruction  of  American  interests.  We 
believe  in  the  development  of  all  our  industrial  re 
sources  to  the  fullest  extent,  and  to  that  end  would 
extend  the  same  measure  of  protection  to  the  pro 
ducers  of  raw  material  as  to  the  workers  in  the  more 
advanced  product.  We  would  not  only  be  independ 
ent  of  foreigners  for  our  manufactured  goods,  but 
for  the  raw  material  out  of  which  they  are  fabricated. 
I  can  conceive  of  no  policy  more  detrimental  to 
American  manufacturers  and  American  labor  than 
the  abandonment  of  the  production  so  far  as  possible 
of  our  own  raw  material.  Such  a  policy  would  not 
only  drive  labor  from  the  largest  field  of  its  employ 
ment,  but  it  would  dry  up  one  of  the  most  bountiful 
sources  of  National  wealth,  and  reduce  our  manu 
facturing  industries  to  complete  dependence  on  for 
eign  nations  for  the  supply  of  their  raw  material. 

"Such  a  result  would  be  disastrous  even  to  the  in 
terests  it  is  proposed  to  promote;  for  when  we  have 


3i6  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1894 

slaughtered  our  flocks,  closed  our  mines,  and  wholly 
abandoned  the  production  of  our  own  raw  material, 
the  foreigner  would  take  advantage  of  our  helpless 
condition  and  impose  upon  us  whatever  burden  his 
cupidity  might  suggest.  We,  therefore,  would  pro 
tect  all  interests,  whether  of  the  mine  or  the  furnace, 
the  field  or  the  factory,  to  the  end  that  all  our  people 
may  receive  profitable  employment,  and  the  Nation 
attain  its  highest  possible  development.  .  .  . 

"Passing  from  the  consideration  of  the  free  list  to 
the  dutiable  schedules,  we  find  here  the  same  spirit 
of  hostility  manifested  in  every  provision.  There  is 
not  a  schedule  in  which  there  are  not  some  industries 
which  will  be  imperiled  by  the  passage  of  this  Bill, — 
many  will  be  utterly  destroyed.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  there  is  any  provision  in  this  Bill  which  will  stimu 
late  a  single  domestic  industry,  or  give  increased  em 
ployment  to  labor,  it  has  not  been  pointed  out.  The 
measure  as  a  whole  looks  only  to  lessened  industries 
and  lower  wages.  It  ought  to  be  entitled  'A  Bill  to 
lessen  the  revenue,  destroy  American  industries,  and 
pauperize  American  labor.'  The  majority  seem  to 
have  been  actuated  only  by  the  desire  to  lower  duties 
all  along  the  line,  regardless  of  the  consequences  to 
American  industries  or  American  labor.  ...  I  have 
only  to  say  that  the  Bill  as  a  whole  is  as  unscientific 
as  it  is  un-American. 


1894]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      317 

"I  shall  not  pause  to  call  attention  to  the  many 
incongruities  in  this  Bill.  .  .  .  There  is  one  criticism 
I  would  not  venture  to  make,  but  as  it  comes  from  the 
Troy  Daily  Times,  I  ask  the  Clerk  to  read  the  follow 
ing: 

The  framers  of  the  Wilson  Bill  having  classified 
hydraulic  hose,  which  is  used  exclusively  for  extin 
guishing  fires,  among  articles  of  wearing  apparel,  no 
doubt  will  remodel  that  extraordinary  measure  so  as 
to  include  hydraulic  rams  and  spinning-mules  in  the 
live-stock  schedule.' 

"The  most  startling  feature  connected  with  and 
running  through  the  entire  dutiable  schedules  is  the 
general  substitution  of  ad  valorem  for  specific  rates. 
Under  existing  law,  duties  are  imposed  wherever  pos 
sible  by  the  yard,  pound,  or  quantity  and  not  accord 
ing  to  value.  The  object  of  this  was  to  avoid  under 
valuations  and  insure  an  honest  collection  of  the  reve 
nues.  It  was  to  protect  not  only  the  revenues  of  the 
Government  but  our  domestic  manufactures  as  well. 
In  the  Committee's  Bill  this  policy  is  abandoned,  and 
five  hundred  specific  rates  have  been  changed  to  ad 
valorem.  If  anything  was  needed  in  addition  to  low 
ered  duties  to  complete  the  destruction  of  our  pro 
tective  system,  it  is  supplied  by  the  substitution  of 
ad  valorem  for  specific  rates.  Under  such  a  policy, 
coupled  with  the  reductions  proposed,  revenue  and 


3i8  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1894 

domestic  industries  will  alike  diminish,  and  the  latter 
in  many  instances  disappear.  ...  In  all  continental 
nations  excepting  the  Netherlands  ad  valorem  tariffs 
have  been  substantially  discarded.  France,  Ger 
many,  Austria,  Hungary,  Italy,  Sweden  and  Norway, 
Russia,  Switzerland,  Belgium,  Portugal,  and  Spain, 
as  the  result  of  long  experience  with  both  systems, 
have  settled  down  to  the  collection  of  their  customs 
revenues  almost  wholly  to  a  specific  basis.  It  is  more 
than  folly,  therefore,  to  attempt  to  foist  upon  this 
country  a  system  condemned  by  a  century  of  our  own 
history  and  the  experience  of  the  leading  European 
nations. 

"It  is  not  surprising,  however,  that  the  Party  of 
Free  Trade  in  the  United  States  should  make  this 
method  of  levying  duties  the  leading  feature  of  its 
policy.  It  is  a  fit  accompaniment  to  this  Bill.  It 
removes  the  last  safeguard  to  American  industries, 
and  strikes  down  the  last  hope  for  our  protective  sys 
tem.  If  there  was  nothing  else  in  this  measure 
deserving  public  condemnation,  this  alone  ought  to 
be  sufficient  to  insure  its  overwhelming  defeat. 

"But  the  members  of  the  majority  seek  to  secure 
public  approval  for  the  destruction  of  specific  duties 
by  pluming  themselves  with  a  show  of  lessened  ad  val- 
orems,  hoping  thereby  to  divert  public  attention  and 
secure  popular  applause.  .  .  .  Let  me  say  that  the 


1894]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      319 

masses  of  the  people,  however,  at  this  time  are  not 
specially  enthusiastic  over  the  prospects  of  lower  ad 
valorems.  Our  workmen  are  not  searching  for  low 
ad  valorems,  but  for  employment.  Shivering  by  deso 
late  hearths  over  the  expiring  embers  of  the  last  hand 
ful  of  coal,  they  are  not  solicitous  about  ad  valorem., 
but  fuel.  Starving  families,  clutching  for  the  last 
morsel  of  food,  cannot  be  lulled  into  forgetfulness  of 
present  misery  by  the  announcement  of  lower  ad 
valorems  on  the  necessities  of  life.  Tramping  the 
streets,  out  of  employment,  receiving  alms,  lower 
ad  valorems  will  not  heal  the  wounded  pride  of  the 
brave  men  who  never  before  were  dependent  on  pub 
lic  charity.  The  laboring  people  of  this  country  ask 
not  lower  ad  valorems.,  but  work.  They  prefer  high 
ad  valorems,  constant  employment,  and  abundant 
wages,  to  low  ad  valorems.,  idleness,  and  want.  .  .  . 
"I  implore  you  to  abandon  this  suicidal  policy. 
Have  you  not  pursued  it  far  enough  to  become  con 
vinced  of  its  disastrous  consequences?  It  is  no 
longer  an  experiment, — it  has  become  a  public  crime. 
You  have  it  within  your  power  instantly  to  relieve  this 
appalling  situation.  You  have  only  to  substitute  for 
the  pending  measure  a  joint  resolution  declaratory  of 
your  purpose  to  maintain  existing  law  in  full  force  and 
effect  during  the  continuance  of  this  Administration, 
and  business  activity  would  instantly  take  the  place  of 


320  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1894 

business  depression.  It  would  arrest  the  slaughter 
of  our  flocks,  open  our  mines,  relight  the  fires  of  our 
furnaces,  unchain  the  wheels  of  our  industries,  start 
every  spindle  and  loom;  while  whistles  and  factory 
bells  would  call  the  tramping,  starving  millions  back 
from  enforced  idleness  to  profitable  employment,  and 
the  American  Republic  would  leap  with  a  bound  to  its 
accustomed  place  in  the  van  of  industrial  nations." 

As  Burrows  came  to  a  close,  the  applause  upon  the 
floor  and  in  the  galleries  was  so  stupendous  and  pro 
longed  that  the  speaker  was  obliged  to  call  the  House 
to  order.  "The  Chair  begs  to  remind  our  visiting 
friends  in  the  galleries,"  he  said,  "that  such  demon 
strations  are  not  allowable  under  the  rules,  and  a 
repetition  of  them  will  warrant  the  Chair  in  having 
the  galleries  cleared.  The  Sergeant-at-Arms  will  be 
directed  to  remove  visitors  from  the  galleries  unless 
they  cease  their  demonstrations." 

To  this  stricture  a  member  of  the  House  retorted, 
"They  vote,  Mr.  Speaker!" 

The  Wilson  Bill  was  passed  by  the  House  by  a  vote 
of  nearly  two  to  one.  Seventeen  Democrats  voted 
against  it,  and  this  dissension  presented  it  to  the 
Upper  House  without  the  united  backing  of  the  major 
ity  Party  of  the  Lower.  In  the  Senate,  the  Demo 
crats  had  a  working  majority  of  only  three  over  the 
Republicans  and  Populists  combined,  and  here  Sen- 


1894]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      321 

ator  Gorman,  of  Maryland,  and  Senator  Bryce,  of 
Ohio,  started  in  to  modify  the  Bill  in  principle  as  well 
as  in  detail.  By  the  time  iron  ore,  coal,  and  sugar 
were  taken  off  the  free  list,  specific  duties  on  many 
commodities  restored  in  place  of  ad  valorems,  and 
rates  generally  advanced  upon  many  other  articles, 
the  Bill  as  returned  to  the  House  was  hardly  recog 
nizable.  President  Cleveland  declared  that  the  dis 
torted  document  represented  "Party  perfidy  and  Party 
dishonor."  The  Democrats  had  shown  themselves 
clearly  afraid  to  break  away  from  Protection,  and  the 
result  of  the  contest  left  them  in  a  position  as  undigni 
fied  as  it  was  humiliating.  Even  friends  of  tariff 
revision  in  the  Party  admitted  that  it  would  have  been 
better  to  continue  the  McKinley  Tariff  rather  than  to 
endorse  this  nondescript  attempt  at  reform. 


W 


CHAPTER  XII 

CURRENCY,     i 874- i 896 

E  saw  in  an  earlier  chapter  1  that  the  financial 
panic  of  1873  turned  the  attention  of  the 
country  away  from  the  reconstruction  of  the  South, 
and  focused  it  upon  the  subject  of  the  Currency.  We 
also  saw  the  far-reaching  political  effect  of  this 
reaction  in  throwing  the  control  of  Congress  in  the 
elections  of  1874  into  Democratic  hands  for  the  first 
time  since  1860.  Burrows,  therefore,  received  the 
force  of  this  reaction  as  his  baptism  in  political  finance. 
He  had  taken  part,  as  a  fledgling  in  the  Forty-third 
Congress,  in  the  discussion  of  the  "Inflation  Bill,"  and 
had  paid  his  penalty  for  standing  behind  the  green 
back;  from  the  side  lines  he  had  watched  Secretary 
Bristow  force  the  Bill  for  the  resumption  of  specie 
payments  through  the  expiring  Forty-seventh  Con 
gress,  recommending,  ( l )  a  system  of  free  banking, 
(2)  the  retiring  of  greenbacks  equal  to  eighty  per 
cent,  of  the  new  bank  notes  issued  until  the  $382,- 
OOO,000  of  greenbacks  in  existence  should  be  reduced 
to  $300,000,000,  (3)  the  withdrawal  of  fractional 

i  See  ante,  page  151. 

322 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      323 

paper  money  and  the  substitution  of  silver  coin,  (4) 
the  abolishment  of  the  charge  for  gold  coinage,  (5)  the 
resumption  of  specie  payments  on  January  1,  1879; 
he  had  seen,  still  from  the  outside,  Resumption  actu 
ally  accomplished,  under  John  Sherman  as  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  the  despised  greenbacks  touching  par 
a  fortnight  before  the  appointed  date.  That  Burrows 
was  closely  following  these  events  is  evidenced  by  the 
following  extract  from  a  speech  he  made  at  Madison, 
Wisconsin,  during  the  campaign  which  returned  him 
to  Congress: 

"We  entered  upon  a  process  of  paying  these  green 
backs,"  he  explained,  "and  then  the  Democratic 
Party  turned  around  and  said,  That  is  unconstitu 
tional;  you  must  not  pay  them.  Give  us  more!' 
Almost  the  whole  Democratic  Party  today  is  drifting 
and  sliding  and  slopping  over  for  more  greenbacks. 
We  don't  want  any  more.  We  want  to  pay  these 
notes ;  that  is  what  we  promised  to  do,  that  is  what  we 
are  bound  to  do.  Now  the  Democrats  say,  'Let  us 
have  this  question  to  manage,  and  we  will  take  care 
of  them,' — but  so  will  we !  We  have  not  forgotten 
what  they  said  about  that  greenback  once  when  that 
little  fellow  was  first  born.  His  head  was  puny.  He 
looked  as  though  he  would  not  live.  We  have  not 
forgotten  that  they  leaned  over  the  cradle  of  his 
infancy  and  said,  'That  is  a  Lincoln  scab.'  And  some 


324  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

of  them  were  so  ungenerous  as  to  suggest  that  it  was 
an  unconstitutional  boy.  But  it  was  our  child.  We 
claimed  him,  we  stood  by  him;  they  hissed  him  and 
called  him  hard  names.  He  only  weighed  about 
thirty-three  pounds  then,  but  under  the  guardianship 
and  care  of  the  Republican  Party  he  has  steadily 
ascended  the  rugged  heights  of  Resumption,  until 
today,  in  spite  of  the  Democratic  Party,  he  weighs  one 
hundred  pounds,  and  stands  upon  the  summit,  wear 
ing  a  crown  of  gold  and  sandals  of  silver.  All  we  ask 
of  our  Democratic  friends  is  to  let  him  alone!" 

The  fact  that  this  achievement  was  finally  accom 
plished  cannot  be  wholly  attributed  to  the  financial 
wisdom  and  skill  of  Secretary  Sherman,  although  he 
was  entitled  to  the  greatest  credit  for  the  firmness  and 
tact  displayed  throughout.  It  should  be  remembered, 
however,  that  in  1878,  for  the  first  time,  the  United 
States  was  selling  in  foreign  markets  more  than  it  was 
buying.  This  condition  was  favorable  to  the  importa 
tion  and  the  retention  of  gold,  and  the  fall  of  prices 
which  came  with  Resumption  itself  assisted  in  attract 
ing  gold  back  to  the  United  States. 

From  1879  to  1888  the  Currency  question  attracted 
only  hike-warm  interest.  Occasionally  there  was  a 
discussion  as  to  the  suspension  of  purchases  under  the 
Bland  Act,  or  to  providing  a  still  freer  coinage;  but 
this  attracted  only  slight  attention  on  the  part  of  the 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      325 

people.  President  Cleveland  himself  was  distinctly 
in  favor  of  such  suspension,  and  warned  his  Party 
and  the  country  at  large  of  the  crisis  which  was  sure 
to  come  through  the  increased  burden  being  placed 
upon  the  gold  reserve.  Even  this  had  little  effect 
except  to  antagonize  the  Silver  faction  of  the  Demo 
cratic  Party. 

The  prosperity  of  the  country  during  1885  and 
1886  was  the  dust  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  accepted 
the  arguments  of  the  advocates  of  the  Bland  Bill  at 
face  value.  During  these  years  the  excess  of  gold  ex 
ports  amounted  to  $40,000,000,  but  during  the  next 
two  years  a  balance  of  $59,000,000  came  back. 
The  years  1887  and  1888  were  spoken  of  as  "of  great 
industrial  activity,"  and  1889  "surpassed  all  its  pred 
ecessors  in  the  general  volume  of  trade  movements." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  large  proportion  in  both  the 
Lower  House  and  in  the  Senate  were  in  favor  of  Silver, 
but  the  majority  Senatorial  attitude  had  not  developed 
to  a  point  where  it  cared  to  adopt  free  coinage.  That 
element  which  had  been  behind  the  craze  for  green 
backs,  checked  in  1874  by  President  Grant,  saw  in  the 
remonetization  of  silver  an  opportunity  to  accomplish 
nearly  the  same  purpose. 

The  Act  of  1873  officially  discontinued  the  coinage 
of  the  silver  dollar,  and  this,  for  years  to  come,  was 

iDewey:  "Financial  History  of  the  United  States,"  page  413. 


326  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

spoken  of  as  the  "Crime  of  1873."  ^n  ^is  Act  the 
silver  dollar  mentioned  contained  420  grains,  and  at 
that  time  the  metal  in  the  coin  was  actually  worth 
more  as  bullion  than  the  sum  it  represented.  A  year 
later,  however,  a  fall  in  the  price  of  silver  changed 
the  situation,  and  the  fluctuations  gave  the  silver  dol 
lar  a  value  greater  than  its  intrinsic  worth. 

Unlimited  free  coinage  of  silver  would,  of  course, 
expand  the  currency,  and  all  the  advocates  of  this 
cause  now  showed  an  equal  enthusiasm  for  silver. 
The  leader  of  the  Silver  forces  was  Richard  P.  Bland, 
of  Missouri,  and  his  Bill  passed  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  November  5,  1877,  by  a  vote  of  163  to  34. 
In  the  Senate,  however,  a  lii  lit  was  placed  upon  the 
volume  of  coinage,  owing  to  the  influence  of  Senator 
Allison:  it  made  the  silver  dollar  again  full  legal  ten 
der,  and  gave  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  authority 
to  purchase  silver  bullion  at  market  price  in  quantities 
of  from  $2,000,000  to  $4,000,000  worth  per  month 
to  be  coined  into  dollars.  Silver  certificates  were  also 
authorized.  President  Hayes  vetoed  this  Bill,  but  it 
was  passed  over  his  veto.  This  Act  required  a  mini 
mum  expenditure  of  $24,000,000  a  year  in  pur 
chasing  a  commodity  which  was  falling  in  value,  and 
which  must  inevitably  become  a  lien  upon  the  gold 
assets  of  the  country. 

Burrows  was  not  in  Congress  at  the  time  the  Bland- 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      327 

Allison  Bill  was  passed,  but  as  it  continued  in  opera 
tion  until  1890  he  had  ample  opportunity  to  follow 
the  results  of  its  enactment.  In  1884,  McCulloch, 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  announced  that  unless  the 
coinage  of  silver  dollars  was  suspended  there  was 
danger  that  silver  and  not  gold  would  become  the 
metallic  standard;  in  the  following  year  Secretary 
Manning  warned  Congress  that  the  hoarding  of  gold 
had  already  begun,  and  recommended  the  suspension 
of  a  compulsory  coinage.  In  spite  of  this,  the  legis 
lators  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  their  way,  while  the 
people  became  more  and  more  restless  without  fully 
realizing  what  it  was  which  was  operating  unfavorably 
upon  their  previous  business  prosperity. 

By  1890  the  people  awoke  to  the  situation,  and  for 
the  next  eight  years  the  Currency  question  became  the 
most  serious  political  problem.  With  Harrison's 
election  Congress  felt  the  pressure  of  its  constituents 
sufficiently  to  take  immediate  action,  and  the  Sherman 
Silver  Purchasing  Act  and  the  McKinley  Tariff  Act 
came  before  its  members  during  the  same  session. 
This  was  in  a  way  unfortunate,  as  it  was  inevitable  that 
certain  compromises  had  to  be  made  on  both  sides  in 
order  to  secure  the  passage  of  both  Bills. 

The  Sherman  Act,  which  finally  passed  July  14, 
1890,  differed  from  the  Bland  Act  in  the  following 
points:  the  monthly  purchase  of  silver  was  increased; 


328  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN         [1874 

treasury  notes  were  to  be  full  instead  of  partial  legal 
tender;  treasury  notes  could  be  redeemed  at  the  dis 
cretion  of  the  Secretary  in  either  gold  or  silver  coin. 
After  July  1,  1891,  standard  silver  dollars  were  to  be 
coined  only  as  necessary  for  the  redemption  of  the 
notes. 

It  will  be  seen  by  this  that  the  Sherman  Law,  while 
providing  for  the  purchase  of  all  the  American  product 
of  silver,  did  not  admit  unlimited  coinage.  The  Act 
declared  for  the  maintenance  of  gold  and  silver  on  a 
parity  each  with  the  other.  By  the  Bland  Act  the 
annual  addition  to  the  currency  grew  larger  as  the 
price  of  silver  fell;  by  the  Sherman  Act  the  annual 
additions  grew  less. 

The  passage  of  the  Sherman  Law  of  1890  caused 
untold  confusion  in  the  ranks  of  the  Republican  Party. 
It  was  distinctly  a  compromise,  conceding  much  to  the 
Silver  element,  and  yet  failing  to  satisfy  them,  while 
the  Sound  Money  wing  of  the  Party  fully  realized  the 
danger  contained  in  the  concessions  which  had  been 
made.  President  Cleveland  complained  that  it  pro 
vided  an  endless  chain,  as  the  notes  were  presented 
for  redemption,  paid  out,  and  then  again  redeemed 
until  the  gold  reserve  was  nearly  exhausted.  Even 
Bland,  the  author  of  the  earlier  Act  of  1878,  and  still 
the  father  of  Free  Silver  in  Congress,  pronounced  the 
Act  "a  masterpiece  of  duplicity  and  double  dealing." 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      329 

With  the  passing  of  the  McKinley  Tariff  Act  the 
Sound  Money  Republicans  in  1891  undertook  to 
repeal  the  Sherman  Silver  Purchasing  Act,  and  Sher 
man  himself  acknowledged  that  the  law  had  proved 
ineffective.  These  efforts,  however,  proved  unsuc 
cessful,  while  the  Silver  element  in  the  Fifty-second 
Congress  nearly  succeeded  in  passing  through  a  bona 
fide  Free  Coinage  Bill  reported  by  Bland,  who  was  at 
this  time  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Coinage. 
That  this  Bill  was  not  passed  through  was  due  wholly 
to  Burrows,  and  the  episode  itself  is  one  of  the  most 
interesting  which  ever  occurred  in  Congress.  As  far 
as  Burrows  is  concerned,  it  is  a  further  evidence  of  his 
astuteness  as  a  parliamentarian.  The  episode  is 
described  in  Harper's  Weekly,  of  April  9,  1892: 

"When  Mr.  Crisp  was  elected  Speaker  of  the  Fed 
eral  House  of  Representatives  no  well-informed  person 
doubted  that  a  Free  Coinage  Bill  would  be  passed  by 
that  body.  The  anti-Silver  Democrats  based  their 
hopes  on  the  Senate,  and  especially  on  the  Senate 
Finance  Committee,  which  was  known  to  be  disposed 
to  settle  the  Silver  issue  by  means  of  an  International 
Monetary  Conference.  The  character  of  Mr.  Crisp's 
Committee  on  Coinage,  Weights,  and  Measures  only 
confirmed  the  belief  that  a  Free  Coinage  Bill  would 
pass  the  House  as  the  same  Bill  passed  it  in  1878. 

"The  fight  on  the  Silver  question  has  been  in 


330  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

progress  ever  since  the  opening  of  the  session.  The 
Tariff  question,  which,  it  was  anticipated,  would  afford 
the  leading  topic  of  discussion,  was  pushed  into  the 
background.  The  Ways  and  Means  Committee  did 
not  take  the  lead  of  the  House  in  legislation.  The 
meetings  of  the  Coinage  Committee  became  more 
interesting  than  those  of  any  other  committee.  Mr. 
Eland's  purposes  were  known;  there  was  no  question 
as  to  where  he  would  stand.  For  nearly  twenty  years 
he  had  been  knocking  at  the  statute-book  for  the 
admission  of  a  Free  Coinage  Act.  But  with  his  fol 
lowers  it  was  different.  Some  of  them,  it  is  true,  were 
as  sincere  and  honest  advocates  of  Free  Coinage  as 
Mr.  Bland.  Others  were  for  the  Bill  because  their 
constituents  were  believed  to  demand  the  free  coinage 
of  Silver.  These  two  classes  were  not  to  be  moved 
by  argument  or  entreaty.  Their  consciences  or  their 
interests  stood  in  the  way.  There  was  a  third  and 
large  class,  however,  who  believed  that  it  was  'good 
polities'  to  advocate  Free  Silver.  Upon  this  class  the 
anti-Silver  men  worked.  Neglecting  for  the  time  the 
merits  of  the  question,  they  appealed  to  the  Free  Silver 
men  as  Democrats,  and  undertook  to  prove  to  them 
that  the  introduction  of  the  Free  Silver  issue  into  the 
Presidential  campaign  would  necessarily  complicate 
the  contest,  would  divert  the  struggle  from  the  issues 
on  which  the  Democrats  had  won  their  great  majority 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      331 

in  Congress  in  the  elections  of  1890,  and  would  en 
danger,  if  not  destroy  Democratic  chances  in  the  three 
Eastern  States, — New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Con 
necticut,  and  in  the  hopeful  group  of  States  of  the 
Northwest,  at  the  head  of  which  stands  Wisconsin, 
whose  Democratic  Legislature  had  pronounced  em 
phatically  against  Free  Coinage. 

"Finally  the  vote  on  the  question  of  considering 
the  Bland  Bill  was  taken,  and  the  majority  in  favor 
of  the  proposition  was  discouraging.  It  seemed  as 
though  the  work  of  persuasion  and  argument  had  gone 
for  nothing.  Nevertheless,  the  fight  was  maintained. 
Telegrams,  letters,  and  petitions  poured  in.  Through 
the  efforts  of  the  New  York  World,  begun  within  four 
days  of  the  time  set  for  consideration,  a  petition  signed 
by  6000  Democrats  was  presented.  It  urged  the  post 
ponement  of  the  Bill  until  after  the  Presidential  elec 
tion.  This  appeal  to  Party  loyalty  was  for  a  time 
unheeded.  The  debate  began  on  Tuesday,  March 
22,  and  proceeded  until  Thursday  afternoon,  when 
Mr.  Bland  moved  the  previous  question.  To  this 
time  the  Free  Coinage  men  had  confidently  counted 
on  a  majority  of  forty  on  the  final  vote. 

"Then  it  was  discovered  that  the  work  of  the  anti- 
Silver  men  had  accomplished  wonderful  results.  To 
the  surprise  of  every  one,  Mr.  Burrows,  of  Michigan, 
the  cleverest  parliamentarian  on  the  Republican  side 


332  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

of  the  House,  moved  to  lay  the  Bill  on  the  table.  The 
Speaker  himself  was  astonished  at  the  audacity  of  the 
motion,  and  Mr.  Burrows  was  obliged  to  call  his  atten 
tion  to  the  rule  in  order  to  convince  him  that  a  motion 
to  lay  on  the  table  takes  precedence  of  a  motion  for 
the  previous  question.  The  Speaker  acquiesced, 
although  he  must  have  been  reluctant,  for  through 
out  the  whole  evening  he  plainly  showed  that  it  was 
his  purpose  to  force  the  passage  of  the  Bill  if  it  was 
in  his  power  to  do  so.  Speaker  Crisp  is  a  determined 
man,  and  believes  in  doing  his  utmost  for  the  cause 
in  which  he  is  for  the  moment  enlisted.  As  the  roll- 
call  went  on  the  excitement  in  the  House  became 
intense,  for  it  was  seen  that  the  vote  would  be  very 
close,  and  the  fate  of  the  Bill  would  be  settled  if 
Mr.  Burrows  prevailed.  As  it  turned  out,  the  vote 
was  148  for  tabling  and  147  against.  The  Speaker's 
vote  was  needed,  and  he  gave  it,  making  the  vote  a 
tie.  As  a  majority  was  required  to  lay  the  Bill  on  the 
table,  Mr.  Burrows'  motion  was  defeated. 

"The  surprise  of  the  Free  Silver  men  was  complete, 
and  their  anger  was  intense.  They  were  ready  to 
adopt  any  method  that  would  secure  the  passage  of 
their  favorite  measure.  They  were  even  ready,  as  it 
turned  out  subsequently,  to  resort  to  practices  that  in 
'the  last  Congress  they  denounced  as  tyrannical.  Mr. 
Bland  himself  seemed  dazed.  Mr.  Outhwaite  moved 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      333 

to  adjourn.  If  that  motion  had  been  carried,  the  Bill 
would  have  been  displaced.  Mr.  Bland  rallied,  and 
defeated  the  motion,  the  Republicans  helping  him. 
Then  Tom  Johnson,  of  Ohio,  who  voted  with  the  Free 
Silver  men  for  the  purpose,  moved  to  reconsider  the 
vote  by  which  Mr.  Burrows'  motion  was  lost.  Mr. 
Bland  moved  to  table  Johnson's  motion.  He  was 
now  in  his  turn  defeated  by  a  tie  vote,  145  to  145,  so 
that  the  anti-Silver  men  had  another  opportunity  to 
table  the  Bill. 

"And  now  came  a  great  wrangle  witE  the  Speaker. 
On  the  previous  roll-calls  he  had  on  his  own  motion 
ordered  the  clerk  to  recapitulate  the  vote,  that  is,  to 
read  it  over  for  the  correction  of  errors.  On  John 
son's  motion  he  simply  announced  the  vote,  and 
declared  it  lost  by  a  tie  vote  of  148  to  148.  The 
announcement  was  greeted  by  a  storm  of  indignation. 
Members  shouted  their  protests.  Demands  for  a 
recapitulation  were  made.  The  Speaker  denied 
them,  on  the  ground  that  they  were  made  after  the 
result  of  the  vote  was  declared.  He  was  reminded 
that  he  had  himself  ordered  the  recapitulation  on  pre 
vious  votes,  and  that  on  this  occasion  he  had  given  no 
opportunity  for  a  demand.  He  was  angrily  told  that 
the  vote  as  declared  was  wrong.  Finally  Mr.  Bland, 
with  the  fairness  that  characterized  him  throughout, 
said  that  if  any  member  doubted  the  accuracy  of  the 


334  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

count  he  hoped  that  there  would  be  a  recapitulation. 
The  Speaker  acceded,  and  the  recapitulation  showed 
errors  enough  to  carry  Johnson's  motion. 

"Burrows'  motion  then  came  up  once  more,  was 
then  lost,  and  after  a  parliamentary  struggle  Mr. 
Bland  himself  moved  the  adjournment.  The  Bill 
was  subsequently  killed  for  the  session  by  the  Speak 
er's  refusal  to  apply  cloture. 

"In  this  exciting  parliamentary  struggle  Mr. 
Bourke  Cockran  was  the  conspicuous  figure  on  the 
Democratic  side.  His  was  the  voice  and  presence 
and  tireless  energy.  With  him  were  Tracey,  Fitch, 
and  Warner,  of  New  York,  and  George  Fred  Williams, 
of  Massachusetts,  while  aiding  him  with  their  great 
parliamentary  resources  were  ex-Speaker  Reed  and 
Burrows.  It  was  a  great  victory  nobly  won." 

A  full  page  cartoon  in  Puck  amusingly  illustrates 
the  public  importance  of  Burrows'  strategy.  He  him 
self  gives  the  following  explanation  of  the  episode: 

"In  the  Silver  fight  I  put  the  motion  to  lay  the  Bill 
on  the  table.  This  was  to  place  on  record  those 
Democrats  who  were  maneuvering  to  side-track  the 
Bill  without  committing  themselves  on  the  question 
at  issue.  Then  I  voted  myself,  a:id  instructed  my 
allies  to  vote  against  the  motion, — that  was,  for  the 
consideration  of  the  Bill,  though  opposing  the  policy 
it  advocated.  This  was  to  force  Democrats  who  were 


0? 


0 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      335 

still  trying  to  straddle  the  question  to  take  a  final 
stand,  from  which  there  would  be  no  hope  of  retreat. 
It  was  urged  that  in  this  I  juggled  with  a  vital  prin 
ciple,  but  inasmuch  as  I  knew  the  Bill  could  not 
become  a  law  there  was  ultimately  possible  no  sacri 
fice  of  any  public  interest,  and  the  end  to  be  gained 
was  confusion  added  to  the  defeat  of  the  enemy." 

At  the  National  Conventions  in  1892  the  platforms 
of  both  Parties  were  intentionally  ambiguous  on  the 
subject  of  Free  Coinage,  but  each  demanded  parity 
in  the  value  of  gold  and  silver.  Almost  before  the 
National  Convention  had  adjourned,  the  Senate  again 
passed  a  Bill  for  the  unlimited  coinage  of  silver,  but 
it  was  killed  in  the  House  by  a  vote  of  154  to  136. 
The  renomination  of  Cleveland  for  President,  and  his 
well-known  views  against  Free  Coinage,  undoubtedly 
influenced  the  Democratic  Representatives. 

The  facts  connected  with  the  panic  of  1893  m&ke  it 
the  most  difficult  to  analyze  of  any  of  the  panics  which 
have  overtaken  the  United  States.  The  year  1892 
was  conspicuous  because  the  volume  of  its  business 
transactions  went  beyond  that  of  any  other  year  in 
the  history  of  the  country;  all  records  were  broken 
in  trade  with  foreign  countries;  railroads  increased 
their  tonnage;  there  was  a  favorable  money  market 
in  relation  to  business;  and  the  record  of  business 
failures  was  the  smallest  for  ten  years.  Students  of 


336  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

commercial  affairs  who  were  able  to  see  below  the 
surface  found  it  impossible  to  convince  the  people 
that  other  conditions  existed  which  made  it  certain 
that  there  was  trouble  ahead.  The  average  man, 
whose  business  was  progressing  under  prosperous 
conditions,  not  being  a  student  of  finance,  found  it 
difficult  to  understand  that  the  continuation  of  heavy 
gold  exports  was  significant. 

When  the  Philadelphia  &  Reading  Railroad  went 
into  bankruptcy,  quickly  followed  by  the  stock  panic 
of  January  2O,  1893,  it  became  apparent  that  the 
signs  which  had  been  accepted  as  those  of  prosperity 
were  merely  superficial.  By  April  15  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  Carlisle  issued  a  notice  that  further  issue 
of  gold  certificates  for  gold  in  the  Treasury  would  be 
suspended,  this  action  being  necessitated  by  the  fact 
that  the  gold  reserve  had  fallen  below  $1OO,OOO,OOO. 
A  week  later,  President  Cleveland  declared  that  every 
power  of  the  Administration  would  be  exercised  "to 
keep  the  public  faith  and  to  preserve  the  parity 
between  gold  and  silver,  and  between  all  financial 
obligations  of  the  Government."  The  financial  hori 
zon  during  the  next  two  months  became  darker  and 
darker,  failures  following  one  another  until  each  man 
who  had  succeeded  in  protecting  his  own  solvency 
wondered  if  his  own  turn  would  not  come  next.  It 
became  necessary  for  banks  in  New  York,  Boston,  and 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      337 

Philadelphia  to  issue  clearing-house  certificates  in 
place  of  currency,  and  when,  on  top  of  all,  the  British 
Government  closed  the  mints  of  India  to  the  free 
coinage  of  silver,  it  became  obvious  that  silver  could 
not  be  supported  by  any  international  agreement. 
By  August,  currency  had  reached  a  premium  of  three 
per  cent. 

Congress  was  called  in  extra  session  on  August  7. 
When  it  convened,  President  Cleveland  asked  the 
absolute  repeal  of  the  Sherman  Silver  Purchase  Law, 
and  the  House  of  Representatives  responded  promptly 
to  his  demand.  Burrows  took  an  active  part  in  the 
debate,  and  the  following  extracts  from  his  speech, 
delivered  on  August  25,  1893,  £?ve  an  excellent  pic 
ture  of  the  conditions  and  a  comprehensive  statement 
of  the  situation: 

"On  the  3Oth  day  of  June  just  past,  and  within  a 
period  of  less  than  four  months  from  the  time  the 
Democratic  Party  assumed  full  control  of  the  execu 
tive  and  legislative  branches  of  the  National  Govern 
ment,  the  President  of  the  United  States  publicly 
announced  to  the  country  and  the  world  that  'there  is 
general  distrust  and  apprehension  concerning  the 
financial  situation  of  the  country;  that  it  pervades  all 
business  circles;  that  it  has  already  caused  great  loss 
and  damage  to  our  people;  and  that  it  threatens  to 
cripple  our  merchants,  stop  the  wheels  of  manufac- 


338  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

tures,  bring  distress  and  privation  to  our  farmers,  and 
to  withhold  from  our  workingmen  the  wage  of  labor' ; 
and  that  he  is  therefore  constrained  'to  convene  Con 
gress  in  extraordinary  session  to  the  end  that  the  peo 
ple  may  be  relieved,  through  legislation,  from  pend 
ing  danger  and  distress.9 

"Forty  days  later,  and  on  the  8th  day  of  the  present 
month,  the  President,  by  message,  advises  the  assem 
bled  Congress  that  'there  exists  an  alarming  and 
extraordinary  business  situation  involving  the  welfare 
and  prosperity  of  all  our  people,'  and  that  he  had 
convened  Congress  that  the  'present  evils  may  be 
mitigated  and  dangers  threatening  the  future  may  be 
averted.' 

"These  conditions  as  thus  described  by  the  Presi 
dent  are  not  today  materially  changed.  There  exists 
at  this  time  the  same  'alarming  business  situation,'  the 
same  'dangers'  seem  to  be  'threatening  the  future,' 
and  if  the  President  of  the  United  States  could  for  a 
moment  have  his  attention  diverted  from  his  pisca 
torial  sports  at  Buzzards  Bay  he  would  not  only  observe 
the  continuance  of  this  deplorable  condition,  but  if  he 
would  listen  he  would  hear  the  ominous  tramp  of  a 
multitude  of  the  unemployed  which  no  man  can  num 
ber,  fresh  from  the  mine  and  the  factory,  carrying 
above  them  now  not  the  delusive  banner  of  'Tariff 
Reform,'  but  the  black  flag  of  distress  and  despera- 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      339 

tion,  and  demanding  food  for  themselves  and  their 
dependent  families. 

"Such  is  the  startling  condition  existing  in  our 
country  today.  .  .  .  What  is  it  that  in  the  brief  space 
of  six  months  has  plunged  this  Nation,  with  all  its 
colossal  interests,  from  the  summit  of  prosperity  and 
hope  to  the  depths  of  adversity  and  despair?  When 
we  know  the  cause  we  can  intelligently  apply  the 
remedy.  .  .  . 

"The  President  of  the  United  States,  in  his  procla 
mation  convening  Congress,  declared  that  'this  con 
dition  is  the  result  of  a  distrust  and  apprehension 
concerning  the  financial  condition  of  the  country,  and 
that  it  is  the  outgrowth  of  a  financial  policy  embodied 
in  unwise  laws  which  he  is  compelled  to  execute  until 
repealed.'  The  country  was  left  in  much  uncertainty 
as  to  the  laws  referred  to  in  this  proclamation,  but  the 
message  removes  all  doubt  by  specifying  the  Act  of 
1890,  commonly  known  as  the  Sherman  Law,  as  the 
fruitful  source  of  all  our  woes.  While  I  am  frank  to 
admit  that  that  measure  in  its  practical  workings  has 
been  a  disappointment  to  its  friends,  yet  I  do  not 
believe  that  it  is  responsible  in  any  considerable 
degree  for  the  deplorable  condition  in  which  we  find 
the  country  today. 

"It  will  be  remembered  we  commenced  buying  sil 
ver  under  that  Act  on  the  13th  day  of  August,  1890, 


340  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

and  we  continued  these  purchases  through  1890, 
1891,  and  1892,  without  any  alarming  symptoms  of 
approaching  disaster;  and  not  until  after  the  Presi 
dential  election  last  November  did  the  business  inter 
ests  of  the  country  take  alarm,  and  stringency  in  the 
money  market  begin  to  appear.  If  the  operation  of 
this  law  is  the  fruitful  source  of  the  widespread  disas 
ter  we  witness  today,  is  it  not  a  little  remarkable  that 
it  was  not  made  manifest  during  the  first  two  years  of 
its  existence?  I  cannot  believe  that  this  deplorable 
condition  is  to  be  attributed  to  an  Act  which  increased 
the  circulation  of  this  country  more  than  three  mil 
lions  of  dollars  a  month  in  good,  sound  currency;  and 
I  cannot  believe  that  labor  has  been  driven  out  of 
employment  and  into  the  street  because  of  the  bad 
character  of  our  money.  I  do  not  believe  the  people 
hide  money,  as  they  are  doing  now  and  have  been  for 
the  last  sixty  days,  because  they  have  any  suspicions 
as  to  the  soundness  of  that  currency. 

"I  do  not  believe  that  great  business  enterprises 
have  been  abandoned,  once  prosperous  industries  shut 
down,  because  of  a  suspicion  that  our  money  was  not 
secure.  The  fact  is  that  at  this  very  moment  our 
entire  volume  of  currency,  whether  of  gold,  silver,  or 
paper,  is  worth  one  hundred  cents  on  a  dollar,  every 
dollar  being  kept  at  a  parity  with  every  other  dollar. 
I  am  constrained  to  believe  that  the  real  cause  of  this 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      341 

widespread  business  depression  is  attributable  chiefly 
to  the  hostile  attitude  of  the  Democratic  Party  toward 
our  protective  policy,  under  which  for  the  last  thirty 
years  the  Nation  has  wrought  its  marvelous  industrial 
independence.  This  money  stringency,  which  is  of 
recent  date,  was,  it  will  be  remembered,  preceded  by 
business  paralysis  all  over  the  country. 

"As  soon  as  the  result  of  the  last  Presidential  elec 
tion  was  known,  and  that  the  people  had  actually 
affirmed  the  declaration  of  the  Democratic  platform 
that  a  Protective  Tariff  was  'unconstitutional,'  and 
that  hereafter  we  were  to  have  a  'tariff  for  revenue 
only'  with  no  element  of  protection  in  it,  that  moment 
the  manufacturers  put  out  their  fires,  labor  was 
reduced  in  its  employment  or  wholly  discharged,  men 
abandoned  great  business  enterprises  which  they  had 
in  contemplation,  and  in  every  way  curtailed  their 
expenses  that  they  might  save  something  from  the 
general  wreck  which  was  sure  to  follow  the  inaugura 
tion  of  Free  Trade  in  this  country. 

"I  have  heard  it  suggested  that  this  could  not  be 
the  cause  for  the  reason  that  as  yet  there  had  been 
no  change  in  our  tariff  law.  Neither  has  there  been 
any  change  in  our  financial  policy,  and  yet  the  Presi 
dent  declares  that  there  is  an  'apprehension'  as  to  our 
financial  situation  which  is  the  'fruitful  source'  of 
our  present  disorder.  So  I  say  it  is  the  'apprehen- 


342  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

sion'  of  a  change  in  our  industrial  policy  that  has 
brought  this  general  suspension  of  business  and  uni 
versal  distrust.  Apprehension  of  danger  is  sufficient 
to  put  prudent  men  on  their  guard.  Would  it  be 
necessary  for  a  person  actually  to  go  over  Niagara 
Falls  to  be  convinced  that  the  expedition  is  attended 
with  disastrous  consequences?  If  a  Party  in  this 
country  today  should  declare  in  favor  of  the  enslave 
ment  of  the  black  race,  and  that  Party  receive  the 
indorsement  of  the  people  on  that  issue,  would  it  not 
occasion  much  trepidation  among  the  people  of  color? 
The  people  are  not  igorant  of  the  results  which  would 
follow  the  inauguration  of  Free  Trade  in  this  country. 
We  have  had  three  periods  of  a  low-revenue  tariff  dur 
ing  kour  National  existence, — 1816,  1832,  1847,— 
and  each  one  of  these  eras  was  attended  with  general 
distress  and  bankruptcy,  supplemented  with  the  most 
serious  panics  this  country  has  ever  seen.  .  .  . 

"But,  whatever  the  cause,  the  situation  is  before  us, 
and  we  must  deal  with  it  as  best  we  can.  It  is  un 
fortunate  that  the  House  in  all  its  membership  is  not 
free  to  legislate.  The  President  in  his  proclamation 
convening  Congress  invited  'all  those  who  are  entitled 
to  act  as  members  of  the  Fifty-third  Congress  to  con 
vene  in  extra  session,'  but  under  a  rule  adopted  by 
the  majority,  without  consultation  with  the  minority, 
no  member  of  the  minority  is  permitted  to  offer  any 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      343 

amendment  to  the  propositions  suggested  by  the 
majority.  So  far  as  legislation  is  concerned,  or  any 
suggestions  from  the  minority,  we  might  as  well  have 
remained  at  home.  We  can  only  vote  with  one  or  the 
other  of  the  warring  factions  of  the  Democratic  Party, 
and  only  on  the  propositions  which  they  in  their  wis 
dom  have  seen  fit  to  submit. 

"What  are  these  propositions?  First,  the  repeal 
of  the  Act  of  1890,  known  as  the  Sherman  Law; 
second,  the  reenactment  of  the  law  of  1878,  known 
as  the  Bland- Allison  Law;  and  third,  the  free  and 
unlimited  coinage  of  silver  upon  some  agreed  ratio 
from  16  to  2O  to  i. 

"Upon  the  first  proposition,  to  repeal  the  purchase 
clause  of  the  Sherman  Act,  I  have  no  hesitancy  in  giv 
ing  it  my  support,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  unsound  in 
principle,  and  in  its  practical  workings  it  has  disap 
pointed  its  friends,  and  if  continued  would,  in  my 
judgment,  result  disastrously  to  the  country.  ...  In 
the  execution  of  this  law  all  Secretaries  of  the  Treas 
ury  have  redeemed  these  notes  in  gold.  The  prac 
tical  workings,  therefore,  of  this  measure  result  in 
exchanging  the  gold  in  the  Treasury  for  silver  bullion. 

"The  gentleman  from  Mississippi  (Mr.  Hooker) 
the  other  day  suggested  that  these  Treasury  notes 
ought  to  be  redeemed  in  silver  dollars,  and  that  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  has  erred  in  insisting  on 


344  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

their  redemption  in  gold.  A  moment's  reflection  I 
am  sure  will  satisfy  the  gentleman  that  his  position 
is  not  tenable.  .  .  .  These  notes  represent  gold  val 
ues,  and  for  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to 
redeem  them  in  silver  dollars  worth  fifty-seven  cents, 
would  be  a  piece  of  financial  dishonesty  which  ought 
to  discredit  a  Government  as  it  would  certainly  dis 
grace  an  individual.  In  the  next  place,  if  the  present 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  had  carried  out  what  was 
reputed  at  one  time  to  be  his  intentions, — to  redeem 
these  Treasury  notes  in  coined  silver, — he  would  at 
once  have  landed  this  Government  on  a  silver  basis, 
and  seriously  impaired  its  now  unquestioned  credit. 
And  I  venture  to  suggest,  in  passing,  that  the  rumored 
purpose  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  this  regard 
sounded  the  note  of  alarm  in  our  great  money  and 
business  centers. 

"Now,  what  has  been  the  resultant  effect  of  this 
purchase  clause  of  the  Sherman  Act?  We  made  our 
first  purchase  of  silver  under  it  on  the  13th  day  of 
August,  1890,  and  from  that  day  until  August  13, 
1893,  a  period  of  exactly  three  years,  we  purchased 
162,102,772  ounces  of  silver  bullion,  equal  to  5,558 
tons,  and  we  issued  in  payment  therefor  notes  of  the 
Government,  today  outstanding,  of  $151,081,492, 
every  one  of  which  must  be  redeemed  by  the  Treas 
ury  of  the  United  States  in  gold.  Does  it  need  any 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      345 

argument  to  show  that  the  continuation  of  such  a 
policy  as  that  would  result  in  depleting  the  Treasury 
of  the  United  States  of  every  dollar  of  gold  we  possess, 
and  putting  in  its  stead  a  mountain  of  uncoined  silver 
bullion?  When  the  paper  given  for  this  bullion 
must  be  redeemed  in  gold,  is  there  any  question  that 
gold  will  disappear  from  the  Treasury  as  fast  as  these 
notes  are  presented  for  redemption?  It  needs  no 
argument  to  show  that  this  policy  cannot  be  continued 
as  a  permanent  financial  system.  It  must  be  aban 
doned  sooner  or  later,  and  the  sooner  it  is  abandoned 
the  less  will  be  the  loss  sustained  by  the  Government. 

"This  silver  bullion  in  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States  is  absolutely  useless.  We  cannot  coin  it, 
because  the  law  does  not  permit  it;  neither  can  we 
sell  it,  and  if  we  were  to  sell  it  at  the  market  price 
of  silver  bullion  today — 72  cents  an  ounce — that  for 
which  we  paid  $151,081,492  would  bring  only 
$1 16,713,895,  entailing  a  loss  upon  the  Government 
of  $34,367,597.  The  loss,  however,  would  probably 
far  exceed  that,  for  if  we  should  authorize  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  to  put  this  silver  on  the  market 
and  dispose  of  it,  that  moment  silver  would  decline 
to  a  point  hitherto  unknown  in  its  history,  and  the 
loss  to  the  Government  would  be  simply  incalculable. 

"It  was  argued  in  favor  of  the  passage  of  this  law 
at  the  time  of  its  enactment  that  the  reason  why  silver 


346  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

had  declined  was  because  the  Government  had  dis 
carded  it  in  a  large  measure,  and  was  only  coining  it 
in  limited  quantities,  and  it  was  contended  that  if  we 
would  utilize  more  of  the  silver  that  it  would  advance 
its  price  and  more  readily  bring  it  to  a  parity  with 
gold,  whereby  its  free  coinage  could  be  safely  author 
ized.  But  time  has  demonstrated  that  this  assump 
tion  was  without  foundation,  for  on  the  13th  day  of 
August,  1890,  we  paid  for  our  first  purchase  of  silver 
under  this  Act  $1.13  an  ounce,  and  on  the  13th  day 
of  August,  1893,  we  paid  73/4  cents  an  ounce,  show 
ing  a  decline  in  three  years  of  40  cents  an  ounce,  while 
during  this  same  period  the  highest  price  we  paid  for 
silver  was  on  the  27th  of  August,  1890,  when  we 
paid  $l.2O*4,  and  the  lowest  on  July  24,  1893,  when 
we  paid  6934  cents  per  ouce,  a  difference  between 
the  highest  and  lowest  price  of  50  cents  an  ounce. 

"But  this  law,  it  is  said,  serves  to  increase  the  cur 
rency.  We  purchase  silver  and  give  our  notes,  which 
are  made  a  legal  tender,  and  which  pass  into  the  mone 
tary  circulation  of  the  country.  While  this  is  true, 
I  venture  to  say  that  that  is  an  unwise  financial  policy 
which  runs  the  Government  in  debt  for  a  product  it 
cannot  use  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  its  volume 
of  money.  No  government  on  the  face  of  this  earth 
ever  adopted  such  a  policy  as  that  but  our  own,  and 
I  doubt  if  a  like  policy  can  be  found  in  all  history. 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      347 

We  might  as  well  buy  copper,  or  iron,  or  wheat,  or  any 
other  product  that  the  Government  cannot  use,  store 
it  in  Government  warehouses,  and  issue  our  promise 
to  pay  therefor  to  be  used  as  money.  We  certainly 
ought  to  be  able  in  some  way  to  supply  the  people  of 
this  country  with  a  sufficient  volume  of  currency  with 
out  resorting  to  a  method  so  questionable  as  this. 
We  ought  to  be  able  to  increase  our  circulation  with 
out  increasing  our  debts.  I  shall,  therefore,  vote 
cheerfully  for  the  repeal  of  the  purchase  clause  of 
the  Sherman  Act,  because  I  believe  it  to  be  unsound 
in  principle,  and  if  continued  will  be  attended  with 
disastrous  results. 

"But  the  gentleman  from  Iowa  (Mr.  Hepburn) 
would  not  repeal  this  Act  because  it  would  be  a  con 
fession  that  it  was  the  cause  of  the  present  disaster. 
By  no  means.  I  am  aware  the  Democratic  Party  at 
tributes  the  present  condition  to  the  Sherman  Law, 
and  that  is  an  additional  reason  why  I  would  repeal  it. 
I  would  tear  down  this  shelter  and  drive  the  Demo 
cratic  Party  out  into  the  open,  where  it  will  be  con 
fronted  with  the  evidences  of  its  disastrous  Tariff 
policy. 

"I  have  heard  it  intimated,  and  by  the  gentleman 
from  Nebraska  (Mr.  Bryan),1  himself  a  member  of 
the  Democratic  Party,  that  this  ought  not  to  be 

i  This  was  Mr.  Bryan's  first  appearance  in  behalf  of  Free  Silver. 


348  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

repealed  until  something  is  agreed  upon  to  take  its 
place,  and  the  gentleman  from  Nebraska  announces 
that  the  message  of  the  President  favoring  the  repeal 
of  this  law  is  the  'burial  of  silver,'  and  then  exclaims: 
'Abandon  hope,  all  you  who  enter  here !'  Let  me  say 
to  my  young  friend  that  that  is  an  old  sign  that  has 
been  hanging  on  the  outer  wall  of  the  Democratic 
Party  for  over  fifty  years,  and  I  am  surprised  he  has 
just  discovered  it.  .  .  . 

"If  the  Democratic  Party  does  not  continue  both 
gold  and  silver  in  our  monetary  system,  and  maintain 
that  money  at  a  parity,  then  they  are  false  to  Party 
pledges,  and  will  be  rebuked  by  the  people.  The 
Republican  Party  is  in  favor  of  bimetallism- — of  the 
use  of  both  gold  and  silver  in  our  monetary  system; 
and  it  not  only  believes  in  it,  but  it  has  legislated  so 
as  to  secure  it.  For  fifteen  years  we  have  maintained 
gold  and  silver  at  a  parity,  and  today  we  have  four 
hundred  and  nineteen  millions  of  coined  silver  dol 
lars;  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  millions  of  Treasury 
notes  representing  silver  purchased,  or  nearly  six  hun 
dred  millions  of  silver  currency  which  we  are  main 
taining  in  our  circulation  on  a  parity  with  gold,  and 
propose  to  maintain  it  as  a  part  of  our  monetary  cir 
culation,  thus  utilizing  both  gold  and  silver,  and  keep 
ing  them  at  a  parity. 

"In  the  face  of  this  legislation  on  the  part  of  the 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      349 

Republican  Party,  the  gentleman  from  Nebraska  (Mr. 
Bryan),  I  have  no  doubt,  joined  his  Party  in  the  last 
election  in  denouncing  this  policy  of  the  Republican 
Party  as  a  'cowardly  makeshift,'  and  appealed  to  the 
people  to  overthrow  that  parity  in  the  interest  of  a 
Party  pledged  to  establish  a  wiser  and  safer  financial 
policy.  The  opportunity  is  now  with  you  to  redeem 
your  pledges,  and  continue  to  utilize  both  gold  and 
silver  in  our  monetary  system,  and  maintain  bimetal 
lism  as  we  have  safely  established  it. 

"The  next  proposition  submitted  by  the  majority 
is  the  restoration  of  the  Act  of  1878.  I  shall  not 
detain  the  House  long  with  a  discussion  of  this  propo 
sition.  That  was  an  Act  which  directed  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Treasury  to  purchase  at  least  two  million 
dollars'  worth  of  silver  bullion  every  month  and  coin 
it  into  standard  silver  dollars  at  412^/2  grains.  The 
only  material  difference  between  that  Act  and  the  Act 
of  1890  is  that  the  former  required  the  silver  pur 
chased  to  be  coined,  and  the  Act  of  1890  does  not. 
And  if  there  are  degrees  of  evil,  then  the  Act  of  1878 
is  worse  than  the  Act  of  1890;  for  under  it  we  were 
coining  37 1  /4  grains  of  pure  silver  into  a  silver  dol 
lar,  and  with  the  stamp  of  the  Government  certifying 
it  to  be  a  dollar,  when  intrinsically  it  was  worth  much 
less.  Under  the  operations  of  that  Act  we  coined 
$378,166,793,  and  that,  together  with  the  coinage  of 


350  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

the  trade  dollar  and  the  coinage  under  the  Act  of 
1890,  makes  a  sum  total  of  silver  coinage  already 
stated  at  $419,294,835. 

"Yet  of  this  vast  sum  of  coined  silver  dollars  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  advises  us  that  on  the  1st 
day  of  June,  this  year,  only  $58,000,000  of  it  was  in 
circulation,  the  balance  being  in  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States,  and  represented  in  our  circulation  by 
silver  certificates.  If  the  coin  will  not  circulate,  as 
seems  to  be  the  case,  why  convert  the  bullion  into 
coin?  Better  continue  the  present  law,  purchase  sil 
ver  and  issue  our  notes  therefor.  But  one  of  the 
most  effective  arguments  used  at  the  time  in  favor  of 
the  passage  of  the  Act  of  1878  was  that  we  demone 
tized  silver  in  1873,  and  that  Act  caused  silver  to 
depreciate,  and  that  if  we  would  remonetize  it  even  in 
part  it  would  at  once  advance  the  price  of  silver  and 
bring  it  to  a  parity  with  gold. 

"It  has  been  demonstrated  that  this  assumption  was 
without  foundation,  for  while  the  value  of  the  bullion 
in  the  silver  dollar  in  1877  was  92  cents,  after  twelve 
years  of  coinage,  in  1889,  the  silver  in  the  silver  dol 
lar  was  worth  only  72  cents,  or  the  value  of  the  bullion 
in  the  silver  dollar  at  the  end  of  twelve  years  had 
declined  2O  cents. 

"When  this  Bill  was  passed  in  1878  President 
Hayes  promptly  vetoed  it  as  being  unwise  financial 


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1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      351 

legislation,  but  it  was  passed  over  his  veto,  and  I  shall 
have  no  hesitancy  in  voting  against  its  reenactment. 

"The  third  proposition  submitted  is  the  free  and 
unlimited  coinage  of  silver  upon  a  ratio  of  somewhere 
between  16  and  2O  to  1.  I  have  but  a  word  to  say 
in  relation  to  this  proposition.  None  of  these  ratios 
represents  the  commercial  ratio.  Coin  your  silver 
dollar  in  the  ratio  of  1 6  to  1  or  2O  to  1  and  you  have 
a  dollar  intrinsically  worth  less  than  the  gold  dollar, 
and  coin  such  a  dollar  as  that — permit  the  owners  of 
silver  bullion  to  bring  to  the  mints  of  the  United 
States  and  have  manufactured  into  dollars  a  certain 
number  of  grains,  worth  in  bullion  much  less  than 
when  they  are  coined,  is  a  proposition  to  which  I 
cannot  give  my  assent. 

"But  it  has  been  stated  in  the  course  of  this  debate 
and  repeatedly  asserted  that  the  present  silver  dollar 
is  the  'dollar  of  the  fathers.'  That  statement  is  not 
true.  It  is  not  the  'dollar  of  the  fathers,9  and  the 
fathers  if  living  would  repudiate  such  an  assumption 
as  a  reflection  upon  their  integrity  and  sagacity.  The 
silver  dollar  of  the  fathers  was  intended  to  be  and  was 
in  fact  exactly  equal  to  the  gold  dollar  in  intrinsic 
value. 

"When  Hamilton  and  the  men  of  his  time  were  con 
sidering  the  establishment  of  the  United  States  Mint, 
in  1792,  the  question  presented  was  whether  we 


352  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

should  coin  silver  or  gold,  or  both,  and  having  deter 
mined  to  utilize  and  coin  both  gold  and  silver,  the 
only  remaining  question  was  just  how  much  silver 
should  be  put  in  the  silver  dollar,  and  how  much  gold 
in  the  gold  dollar.  It  was  agreed  on  all  hands  there 
must  be  just  such  an  amount  put  into  the  silver  dollar 
and  the  gold  dollar  as  would  make  them  exactly  equal 
in  commercial  value;  for  there  was  no  man  living  at 
that  time  outside  a  mad  house  who  entertained  the 
idea  that  you  could  coin  dollars  of  unequal  intrinsic 
value  and  make  them  circulate  side  by  side  in  any 
monetary  system.  For  it  is  a  law  as  old  as  monetary 
science,  and  as  inexorable  as  the  moving  of  the 
spheres,  that  if  you  have  two  dollars  of  unequal  value 
the  cheaper  will  be  the  only  one  that  will  circulate, 
and  the  more  valuable  will  be  driven  out  of  circulation. 
"Mr.  Baring  said  upon  this  subject:  'A  very 
slight  difference  of  one-tenth  or  one-quarter  of  one 
per  cent,  would  determine  the  use  of  one  metal  or  the 
other.9  Our  own  history  demonstrates  the  truth  of 
this  law.  Under  the  ratio  of  1  to  15,  established  in 
1792,  the  two  coins  separated  in  a  few  years,  because 
it  was  found  that  the  commercial  value  and  the  mone 
tary  value  did  not  correspond,  and  gold  went  out  of 
circulation,  and  our  coined  silver  was  the  only  money 
remaining  in  circulation.  In  1834  the  ratio  was 
changed  to  16  to  1,  but  it  was  soon  discovered  that 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      353 

the  commercial  ratio  did  not  then  correspond  with  the 
monetary  ratio,  and  the  result  was  that  silver  was 
more  valuable  than  gold,  and  went  out  of  circulation, 
while  gold  became  our  only  circulating  metallic 
money.  When  the  owner  of  37ij^  grains  of  pure 
silver  could  get  more  for  that  silver  uncoined  than  he 
could  by  having  it  coined  into  a  silver  dollar,  certainly 
he  would  not  take  it  to  the  Mint  of  the  United  States 
to  have  its  value  lessened  by  being  coined  into  money. 
So  silver  dollars  went  out  of  circulation. 

"In  1861  we  were  flooded  with  a  depreciated  paper 
currency  less  valuable  than  either  gold  or  silver,  and 
the  result  was  that  it  drove  both  gold  and  silver  out 
of  circulation,  and  they  remained  out  of  circulation 
until  we  resumed  specie  payments  in  1879. 

"This  people  have  not  forgotten  the  battle  for  the 
resumption  of  specie  payments,  and  they  do  not  care 
to  repeat  that  experience.  It  was  a  long  journey, 
fraught  with  hardship  and  disaster  to  many  individu 
als,  and  had  to  be  pursued  in  the  face  not  only  of 
Democratic  opposition  demanding  the  repeal  of  the 
Resumption  Act  and  the  continued  non-payment  of 
our  unredeemed  promises,  but  Parties  sprang  up  in 
favor  of  fiat  money  and  the  wildest  financial  vagaries 
which,  for  the  time  being,  threatened  the  credit  and 
financial  integrity  of  this  Nation.  Must  we  fight  that 
battle  over  again?  .  .  . 


354  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

"We  who  favor  the  repeal  of  the  Act  of  1890  are 
the  only  real  bimetallists,  and  we  are  pursuing  the 
only  course  in  my  judgment  by  which  bimetallism 
can  be  maintained.  The  free  and  unlimited  coinage 
of  silver  at  any  of  the  ratios  named  will  destroy 
bimetallism,  and  will  reduce  this  country  to  a  single 
standard,  that  of  silver,  and  that  depreciated,  and  I 
am  suspicious  that  for  this  very  reason  some  gentle 
men  are  anxious  for  its  triumph.  The  opening  of  the 
mints  of  the  United  States  to  the  unrestricted  minting 
for  individuals  of  silver  into  legal  dollars  at  any  ratio 
to  gold  less  than  the  commercial  value  of  both  metals, 
under  the  pretence  of  aiding  the  cause  of  bimetallism 
or  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  or  maintaining 
bimetallism  in  the  United  States,  is  simply  playing 
upon  the  sentiment  and  credulity  of  the  American 
people.  .  .  . 

"Let  the  people  but  once  understand  that  all  this 
talk  about  bimetallism  is  simply  a  cover  to  hide  the 
obnoxious  fact  that  it  is  silver  monometallism  that  is 
the  real  purpose,  or  at  least  the  certain  result,  and 
they  will  have  none  of  it.  There  is  no  considerable 
portion  of  our  people  who  would  vote  to  place  this 
country  on  a  silver  basis.  The  argument  between  the 
advantages  of  the  two  systems  is  a  real,  living 
one.  .  .  . 

"At  one  time  a  practice  prevailed  in  England  of 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      355 

clipping  the  coins  and  thereby  depreciating  their 
value.  The  English  Government  made  that  practice 
a  felony  punishable  by  death.  Women  were  burned 
at  the  stake  and  men  were  dragged  to  the  scaffold  for 
clipping  the  coins  of  the  realm.  But  it  is  now  seri 
ously  proposed  in  the  National  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  the  American  people  to  legalize  an  unlimited 
issue  of  debased  currency.  It  is  proposed  that  this 
great  Government,  which  through  all  its  perilous  his 
tory  of  the  last  thirty  years  kept  faith  with  all  its 
creditors,  and  stands  today  with  a  credit  matchless 
and  unimpaired,  shall  now  enter  upon  the  shoreless 
and  fathomless  sea  of  depreciated  coinage,  whose  only 
harbor  is  National  repudiation  and  individual  bank 
ruptcy,  to  the  utter  destruction  of  the  Nation's  credit 
and  the  prosperity  of  the  citizen." 

Three  days  later  the  House  repealed  the  Sherman 
Act,  but  the  Senate  delayed  action  until  October  30, 
causing  severe  business  depression  throughout  the 
country.  When  at  last  the  Silver  men  surrendered, 
the  expected  relief  did  not  come,  owing  to  the  fact 
that  adverse  trade  conditions  embarrassed  the  Treas 
ury  in  its  efforts  to  maintain  the  parity  between  gold 
and  silver,  and  the  Secretary  was  obliged  to  admit  that 
the  Treasury  was  spending  beyond  its  income.  The 
gold  reserve  had  to  be  used  not  only  for  redemption 
but  also  for  ordinary  expenses.  Secretary  Carlisle 


356  BURROWS  OF  MICHIGAN        [1874 

appealed  to  Congress  for  authority  to  sell  bonds  to 
supply  the  deficiency,  but  the  Silver  men  blocked 
favorable  action,  demanding  that  the  silver  in  the 
Treasury  should  be  used  with  gold  in  redeeming  the 
notes  presented. 

In  January,  1894,  bids  were  asked  for  $50,000,000 
five  per  cent,  ten  year  bonds,  to  be  purchased  with 
gold,  with  the  announcement  that  minimum  offers 
must  include  a  premium  of  over  seventeen  per  cent. ; 
but  as  the  bonds  were  redeemable  in  "coin"  and  not 
specifically  in  gold,  they  did  not  prove  especially 
attractive.  They  were  at  last  disposed  of,  but  as 
nearly  half  of  the  payments  were  made  in  gold  with 
drawn  by  the  subscribers  from  the  Treasury,  the^lief 
was  only  partial.  By  November  the  gold  reserve  had 
fallen  so  low  that  it  became  necessary  to  invite  bids 
for  a  second  $50,000,000  bond  issue,  and  the  result 
was  almost  identical. 

As  these  efforts  to  relieve  the  crisis  had  proved 
abortive,  and  the  situation  became  more  and  more 
critical,  President  Cleveland  called  Mr.  J.  Pierpont 
Morgan  to  the  White  House  in  consultation.  As  a 
result,  drastic  action  was  taken,  Congress  being 
warned  that  unless  an  issue  of  gold  interest-bearing 
bonds  was  immediately  authorized  an  agreement 
would  be  entered  into  with  private  bankers  for  the 
purchase  of  gold.  Congress  did  not  act,  and  on  Feb- 


1896]    AND  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY      357 

ruary  8,  1895,  a  contract  was  entered  into  with  three 
important  houses  for  the  purchase  of  three  and  one- 
half  million  ounces  of  gold,  payment  to  be  made  in 
bonds.  An  important  clause  in  the  contract  stipu 
lated  that  the  lenders  should  use  their  influence  to 
protect  the  Treasury  against  the  withdrawals  of  gold, 
and  the  fact  that  this  protection  was  accomplished 
was  a  striking  tribute  to  Mr.  Morgan's  influence  in  the 
money  markets  of  the  world, — he  was  the  Joshua,  "at 
whose  command  the  sun  and  moon  stood  still."  By 
the  time  this  contract  expired  conditions  had  again 
become  normal,  and  business  had  revived.  When, 
a  year  later,  President  Cleveland  was  again  obliged  to 
ask  for  an  additional  loan  of  $100,OOO,OOO,  confi 
dence  was  so  far  restored  that  bids  received  from  pub 
lic  subscription  covered  the  entire  amount  many  times. 
When  the  elections  of  1896  insured  a  return  to  a  gold 
standard  those  who  had  hoarded  gold  again  placed 
it  in  circulation,  and  the  strain  upon  the  Treasury  was 
relieved. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED  DATE 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or      ETU  R  N 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed.  NALTY 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall.        DU  RTH 

— A     DAY 


— 


LD  21  A-45m-9,'67 
(H5067slO)476B 


1937 


4i 


General  Library 
University  of  California        jl  \ 
Berkeley 


YC  51338 


53670? 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


